KUCHING, Dec 28 ― Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB) president Cobbold John Lusoi today said his party has no problem with religious teachers from peninsular Malaysia, provided they are posted to schools in Sarawak's coastal areas or where the majority of the students are Muslims.
“But we will strongly oppose the posting of Muslim religious teachers to schools where most of or all the students are Christian Dayaks in the rural areas,” he said.
He was responding to fears expressed by the Sarawak Evangelical Christian Association (SECA) over a statement made by Education Minister Maszlee Malik for religious teachers from Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah to make Sarawak as their “medan dakwah” or arena to evangelise.
Lusoi said there is no justification for the Education Ministry to post religious teachers to schools dominated by Christian students other than to influence them to become Muslims.
He said there were attempts in the past to influence the students through subtle means to convert into Islam without the knowledge of their parents.
Lusoi said PBDSB opposes any move by the ministry to post religious teachers to primary schools in the remote parts of Sarawak which do not have a single Muslim student.
“These teachers may be assigned to teach other subjects, like moral education, but along the way, nothing will stop them from using subtle ways to influence the students to learn about Islam without the young minds knowing about it,” he said.
Lusoi said with the “mandate” given by Maszlee to these teachers to consider Sarawak as their “medan dakwah”, the possibility of these religious teachers using subtle ways to influence the Christian students to become Muslims is real.
He reminded that these teachers are from the PAS-controlled states of Kelantan and Terengganu.
“With that in mind, these teachers may well be PAS members and supporters. PAS, as we all know, is bent on spreading the Islamic faith in the country.
“Again, we are not opposing if these teachers spread the PAS-brand of Islam in coastal areas or Malay villages,” Lusoi said.
