Recently, there have been some controversies in making ‘Islamic Civilisation’ a compulsory subject in all public tertiary education centers in Malaysia. Currently, ‘Islamic Civilisation’ is already a compulsory subject for both Muslims and non-Muslims in some public tertiary education centers though Universiti Sains Malaysia requires only Muslim students to pass the subject.

‘Islamic Civilisation’ was introduced to eliminate fears among the non-Muslims towards Islam. And it is true that such Islamic courses would eliminate ignorance of non-Muslims towards Islam.

However, the fear is not due to the religion of Islam itself but often arises from a human nature to manipulate others and coerce others to adopt their own way of life even if the coercion is subtle.

The authorities’ inconsistency in protecting the minorities’ cultures , languages and religions has resulted in fear because of their highly discriminative past. On the other hand, Muslim students have not, in fact, reciprocated with a better understanding and sensitivity to other religions other than Islam.

The authorities have never emphasised with the equivalent connotation that the Muslims’ fear of other religions can likewise be due to their ignorance. This fear can be eliminated only if they too learn about other religions. Therefore, it will genuinely be meant for integration of the nation if Muslims, too, are made to learn about their fellow countrymen’s religions and cultures.

Only after the overwhelming response from the non-Muslim communities that non-Islam religions be made part of the univesities’ courses did the authorities decided to add the subject ‘Asian Civilisations’.

The initial insensitivity by the authorities, apparently, had neglected the feelings of the non- Muslims. Malaysia is a multi-religious society which requires each Malaysian to have an adequate knowledge of religions other than his own.

In other words, Muslims should recognise the universal values embedded in other religions and vice-versa - the non-Muslims should learn about the good values of Islam even though it is not meant for the purpose of conversion.

So far, no details of the proposed religious education subjects have been made known to the public for scrutiny. ‘Asian Civilisations’ should include Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Sikhism, Confucianism, and other religious and non-religious philosophies.

Western civilisation and Christianity, which is also a religion of many Malaysians, should be included with equal emphasis in the course. The rise and fall of Western civilization would be a valuable lesson for any world citizen, especially that distinct part of history that reveals the lessons of the Dark Ages, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution and the most recent, the Information Revolution.

Based upon the concept of affirmative action and fairness, it is appropriate to inquire on the emphases of various content in the upcoming subjects of ‘Islamic Civilisation’ and ‘Asian Civilisations’ in the public tertiary education centers.

Whether there will be equal emphasis on each religion and civilisation is an issue of commitment to affirmative action. Will it be fair if 80 to 90 percent of the course hours be utilised to cover only one civilisation with only 10 to 20 percent of the remaining course hours be allocated to the remaining civilisations.

Hence, an equal emphasis on each religion and civilisation would actually assure the realisation of affirmative action. Fear has often arisen from the religious insensitivity of the majority towards the minorities’ religions.

This could be overcome with the teaching of universal moral values such as brotherhood, justice and peace all of which are embedded in the dominant religion itself.