KUCHING, May 14 — Camping trips for students of two secondary schools here are being used by an unidentified Muslim group to preach to Christians on Islam, a state lawmaker alleged today.

An irate Balai Ringin assemblyman Snowdan Lawan today complained that Muslim preachers from peninsular Malaysia had conducted “seminars” during the camps in which they spoke to the mainly Iban Christian students about such religious matters as the differences between the Christian holy water and “air zam zam”, and the Roman Catholic Saint Mother Teresa.

“Air zam zam” refers to water from the Well of ZamZam located in the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia, which Muslims consider to have miraculous properties.

Snowdan said the allegations were brought to his attention by the school’s Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), which accused the Muslim groups of conducting the preaching via so-called “Kem Anak Angkat” and “Haluan Malaysia” programmes.

“About 50 students from SMK Balai Ringin and some more from SMK Serian participated in the programme. What irks us was that most of the students were non-Muslim. I asked the school principal, he was also not aware of such programme, leading us to conclude that the programme was not sanctioned by the school or the Education Department.

“We demand an explanation from the Education Department as to why such programme was carried out without the knowledge of the school,” said Snowdan.

SMK Balai Ringin PTA exco member Simi Gindang said 70 per cent of the school’s over 2,000 students were Christian.

“We do not agree to this programme. The students were even told to give their names and Mykad numbers. We are concerned that these information might be abused,” he said, adding that it was outrageous for such programme to question the students’ faith.

Simi also revealed that the programme started in SMK Serian on Saturday the week before, with another at SMK Balai Ringin last Saturday.

One more is due to be held this weekend at SMK Serian, he added.

Sarawak Education director Datu Abdillah Adam told The Malay Mail Online that he was not aware of such programmes, but said the department will investigate the allegations.

“Every programmes and activities to be held in schools in the state will have to go through us first,” he assured.

Land Development Minister Tan Sri James Masing, who was also present at the press conference, noted the religious friction in peninsular Malaysia and warned of attempts to spread this to Sarawak.

“Of course the law of the country does not allow a Muslim to be influenced or converted to non-Muslim, or revert back to non-Muslim. As we know, non-Muslims in the country are flexible and we cannot stop believers from converting or accepting Islam.

“However knowing that most of the students participating in the programme are non-Muslim and majority are Iban Christians, these irresponsible NGO should not abuse our flexibility by carrying out deceiving programmes like this,” he said.

Today’s allegations comes after two Sarawak students complained of questions on Islam during an interview for scholarships from Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) last month.

Among others, the students said interviewees were asked to name the prophets of Islam, the rukun (precepts) of Islamic prayers, and their opinion on the controversial hudud law, among others.