Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tunku Syed Sirajuddin Syed Putra Jamalulail today expressed regret that several public religious schools or Sekolah Agama Rakyat (SAR) were teaching students to hate other Muslims.

According to a Bernama report, the King said this did not reflect the true teachings of Islam as the religion regarded all Muslims as brothers.

"If my government were to continue to support such deviated religious schools, it would mean that the government condones the teaching of that contrary to Islam," he said when opening the first sitting of the fifth term of the 10th Parliament this morning.

However, he added that he was grateful that many parents and students of SAR had responded to the government's call to switch to national schools where they can receive a balanced education o­n their obligations as individuals and as members of society.

Last year, the government said it would stop funding these schools, which are mostly operated by opposition party PAS.

The government alleged that the students were being inculcated with anti-establishment sentiments.

The move to close down SAR has outraged Muslim-based opposition party PAS and other advocates of religious schools.

Over the past three months, they have petitioned the sultans, who are - under the constitution - protector of Islam, to intervene o­n the matter.

The sultans of Kedah, Perak and Terengganu as well as the Raja Muda of Perlis have reportedly told the petitioners that they would raise the issue for discussion at the next Conference of Rulers scheduled this week.

Meanwhile, the King said the concept of Islamic state, jihad and the proper use of mosques should be explained to the public as the unity of Muslims is at stake.

"This is the result when Muslims do not uphold the revered and true view o­n several matters such as the understanding of Malaysia as an Islamic state, understanding of jihad and the misuse of the institution of the mosque," he said.

He added that immediate action was needed to ensure that the country would continue to enjoy stability, peace and prosperity.

Language switch

His majesty also expressed his desire to see students master the English language in order to keep abreast with development in the fields of science and technology.

The King said he regretted that certain quarters had misconstrued and criticised the government's policy to teach Science and Mathematics in that language in all schools.

"It reflects their narrow-mindedness, without realising the importance of building a harmonious Malaysian society," he said.

The government's language switch policy - which came into effect this year - met with stiff opposition from vernacular educationists and even Chinese-based parties in the ruling coalition.

The switch was introduced to arrest the decline of students' proficiency of the language but detractors said that teaching the two technical subjects in English would fail to achieve this.

The issue escalated to the point where Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad labelled the critics as 'extremists' while Deputy Home Minister Zainal Abidin Zin threatened that the Internal Security Act would be invoked against those who opposed it.

NAM success

The King also complimented the premier and the government o­n their success in organising the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Kuala Lumpur last month.

His majesty said he was confident that Malaysian leadership would add vitality to the movement and ensure that it remains relevant.

"As NAM chairman for the next three years, Malaysia is capable of leading it to face current challenges for the sake of global justice, prosperity and fairness as well as contributing towards resolving conflicts peacefully.

On a global issue, the King expressed regret that the world was facing numerous problems, including the threat of terrorism which has been linked to Islam.

"On the other hand, far greater violence committed by non-Islamic groups or individuals are not associated with their religions," he said.