KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 — A DAP lawmaker wants Putrajaya to reverse its decision to make the Islamic civilisation subject compulsory in private universities which he claimed to be an encroachment on the rights of non-Muslims in the country.

Effective September 1, university students at private institutions of higher learning are obliged to take up the subject to qualify for accreditation by the Malaysia Qualification Agency, the Education Ministry had announced in Parliament recently.

“For the non-Muslims, why is it necessary for them to study Islamic civilisation? They would have been well brought up in their respective religious background and have solid foundation in their moral teachings,” said Kampar MP Ko Chung Sen (picture).

“It is guaranteed in our Federal Constitution that non-Muslims have the freedom of professing and practice of their religion...  therefore non-Muslims should not be compelled to learn about Islam,” Ko told reporters in Parliament here.

The first-term MP called the move political since he saw the subject as irrelevant to major courses like engineering, science and medicine.

“It is indeed surprising. If you look at the leading universities in the world, no study related to a religion is made a compulsory subject. How would this improve one’s studies to be a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer? Why would this be necessary in Malaysia?

“The fact that the Ministry of Education can decide and dictate which subjects to be made compulsory meant this is a political decision rather than an academic one,” he said.

Concerned parents, educationists and opposition leaders have in the past blamed political interference for the plunging quality in education.

Fearing a public backlash, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was reported calling for education to be depoliticised at the launch of National Education Blueprint (NEB) 2013-2025 in September last year.

But several analysts believe Malaysia’s dream of boosting its education standards through an ambitious overhaul of the national school system will not happen as long as politicians continue to be involved in drawing up its policies.

An example of this is the reversal of the policy to teach mathematics and science in English as an example of political interference in Malaysia’s education system.

In 2009, the current administration led by Najib had retracted the policy after it was introduced six years ago by the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

In the new education blueprint, Malaysia aims to be in the top third of the Programme For International Student Assessment (PISA) test within the next 13 years. The country is currently ranked in the bottom third.

The education blueprint comprises 11 strategic “shifts” to inculcate six attributes in children — knowledge, thinking skills, leadership, bilingual proficiency, ethics and national identity.