Bringing up teenaged children and providing them with a wholesome education must rank as o­ne of life's more stressful undertakings in today's highly competitive world. Those of us who have them are familiar with stories of how bright children from good homes end up delinquent and dropping out simply because of wrong company, and thus choosing the right school has become that all important first step. I should know, my wife being a senior teacher in a fairly reputable school in KL's northern suburb which has a sizeable middle class recounted to me to what length parents from further afield would go to get their children into her school.

Even so, with such a large intake (14 classes in Form 3) each year, not all students show seriousness in their schooling. The bottom quarter do not quite see the purpose of going to school, save to while away a few good years and get kicks out of breaching school discipline and defying authority.

There must be many children whom the national school system and the social environment have failed if we go by the lamentation of politicians, community leaders and educationists over the state of moral degeneration of our youth. It has been more than a decade that many reasonably well-to-do parents have lost faith in our national school system and work hard to send their children to private schools, and to Islamic o­nes for those who are more religiously conscious. The national school system leaves much to be desired, and critics have been pointing this out for years - disparity in quality and facilities between rural and urban schools, very large class size, low morale among teachers such as to leave a largely female workforce, etc.

As if all that is not problem enough, we were also told recently by government leaders annoyed over the resistance from some quarters to its plan to use English in Maths and Science that the national schools have become the bastion of a resurgent, narrow Malay nationalism, scaring away non-Malay parents from sending their children there.

Political victim

However all that vilification is forgotten as soon as another facet of our pluralist educational environment fell victim to politics. With the sudden decision to stop capitation grant to the privately run Sekolah Agama Rakyat (SAR), the government now persuades parents concerned to enroll their children into national schools, veritable institutions of academic excellence and a vehicle of national integration where children will be natured into robust, successful citizens of a borderless world.

The sudden decision to stop granting financial aid to SAR seemed to be another paranoid over-reaction o­n Umno's part to stem the tide of PAS' influence o­n the Malay constituency, and to desperately win back the Malay cultural ground at all cost. In Umno's eyes, every institution having anything to do with Islam is a nest of PAS supporters, and therefore anti-Umno and anti-government - mosque committees, state religious departments, Lembaga Tabung Haji, zakat collection bodies, religious schools, etc. They just have to wrest control back from PAS or otherwise render these institutions impotent or discredited.

It has now reached a level that is beginning to interfere with our educational heritage and the future of students in these institutions. Students going to Al-Azhar will soon be screened by the Malaysian embassy in Cairo, two Mara science colleges are suddenly closed because they are run by the Terengganu state government and now, the threat to SAR.

It reminds us of the powerful ruler of ancient Egypt who, in his crazed paranoia, saw his downfall in every male newborn Israelite, and therefore ordered every o­ne of them killed.

Educational heritage

But the current attempt at financial strangulation of SAR has touched a raw nerve among a significant section of the Malay community, grave enough that the activists fighting to save SAR has formed a coalition, Gerakan Bertindak untuk Selamatkan SAR (Gegar).

It was recently granted an audience with the Sultan of Perak to present its memorandum asking for the intervention of Malay Rulers to save SAR and appealing for the issue to be raised at the next Conference of Rulers meeting ( New Straits Times , 22 Jan).

To the Malay Malaysians, regardless of which political party they belong to, the religious schools, whether fully funded by state governments or privately funded with some government assistance (SAR), constitute an educational heritage that has sustained Islam in our social and cultural life.

This has been the institution that has been producing lowly paid but largely dedicated teachers who ensure the survival of Islam in the community. For those less familiar with the practice of religion among Muslims, although the religious doctrines in themselves are simple, we are required to have some minimum knowledge of the practical aspects of the faith. Part of this requires o­ne to be able to read, and better still, have some understanding of Arabic.

This institution complements very well the national school system, as it is understandable that the latter cannot allocate sufficient time for the teaching of the more practical aspects of the faith, and hence it is for this reason that we send our primary school children to religious schools before or after normal school hours.

It is also common practice among the more affluent Muslims to engage an Ustaz to teach their children privately at home. This is why these religious teachers are held in high regard by the community, for, apart from leading the daily prayers, providing counsel or conducting religious rites and ceremonies such as marriage, deaths and burials, they teach the young the fundamentals of religious knowledge and its practice.

We all understand that the national school system is not capable of producing these special group of individuals. It is thus quite understandable that the Malays are outraged by Umno for its rash attempt to destroy this cherished institution in its political fight with PAS.

The institution of "Sekolah Agama" is much older than PAS, and there are probably many people in Umno at the ground level especially in Johor, Kedah and the east coast for whom this institution has a special place. In trying to justify its action against SAR, Umno leaders have denigrated the institution as incapable of producing men of calibre and knowledge that can contribute meaningfully to nation-building.

But it must not be forgotten that the first stirrings of Malay nationalism to rid Malaya of our colonial masters in the 1920s to 1930s were by students and teachers of this institution. In today's world of business and technology, their education may limit their career choices but the administration of religious institutions that give Malaysia its Muslim character such as the state religious departments, syariah courts, zakat collection and distribution, and religious academic institutions could not have been possible without these religious schools.

Terrorism and other charges

To accuse these religious schools of breeding terrorists is stretching the post-Sept 11 Islamic terrorism rhetoric a little too far. If at all, the most they can do is perhaps produce foot soldiers for the Taliban.

Constructing car-bombs and flying jet-liners into tall buildings require technological savvy, shrewdness and world-weariness such that graduates from these conservative, poorly funded schools well-buffered from the most severe dislocations of modernity in the Malay heartland are unlikely to possess. We will probably never know the truth, but the majority of Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM) and Jemaah Islamiah (JI) members detained without trial for alleged acts or links to terrorism do not seem to be graduates of these religious schools.

The charge of nurturing terrorists is the most serious but not the o­nly o­ne. For years these schools have been painted as a backward institution whose curriculum are unable to prepare their students to meet the challenges of the modern world. Their students are supposedly taught to hate the government and automatically join the ranks of religious fundamentalists that will challenge Umno's enlightened domination of Malay and national politics. Some of these charges probably have a grain of truth in them, but to use the anti-terrorism rhetoric against them is irresponsible, shrewd and lazy.

The sudden decision to stop financial aid to SAR represents a new low in Malay politics and an increasing encroachment of politics into education. This ought to make us pause and reflect - that in its paranoia over the perceived threat to its survival, Umno is prepared to sacrifice a long cherished institution that has been the pillar of religious life of the community. Umno should probably hold the mirror close to itself.

Why are the Malays, especially those who are more conscious of their religion, moving away from the party that had secured independence for the nation and has been the backbone of its elected government ever since? Will keeping a tight grip o­n every religious institution guarantee its continued domination or survival?

Reality for Umno

Umno needs to face the reality that it is not o­nly the more religious Malays who have been disenfranchised. The list is actually long - from middle class Malays disillusioned with Umno's hypocrisy and politics of cronyism, to non-Malays with their legitimate grouses over the abuses of the NEP, and the educated, anti-establishment types long critical of the government's abuses of power and suppression of fundamental freedoms.

I am sure it has probably realised this for some time already but does not see the need to re-invent itself as yet. But re-invent it must if it wished to remain a major player in Malaysian politics.

For Umno's political nemesis, there is perhaps a lesson to be learnt. Taunting Umno continually as anti-Islam and of harbouring Kemalist designs may become a self-fulfilling prophecy. For all the charges levelled at Umno leaders, the administration of various religious institutions as befits the constitutional status of Islam as the official religion of the Federation is largely run o­n government funding, something which we have always taken for granted. Whatever designs the Islamist opposition accuses Umno leaders of with regard to Islam, its simple, ordinary members in the villages cannot contemplate of the Malays without their Islam.

This is also the opportune time to reflect o­n the weaknesses of our religious schools to ensure its continued relevance. While it continues in its role in sustaining the religious life of the community, it should also attune itself so as not to be out of step with development and progress.

Saving SAR is in the long-term interest of the whole Malay-Muslim community. We should keep politics out of it.

Dr MAZENI ALWI is a medical practitioner who takes care of sick children.