Opposition leaders today expressed their regret that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government had chosen to "drag" Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tunku Syed Sirajuddin Syed Putra Jamalulail into o­ngoing policy disputes by politicising the royal speech.

Opposition Leader Abdul Hadi Awang ( photo ) said the King should not be "burdened" by the speech, adding that the BN was to be blamed instead for not being more tactful in preparing a text that would not involve the King in a political dispute.

His Majesty today expressed regret that several people's religious schools or Sekolah Agama Rakyat (SAR) were teaching students to hate other Muslims.

"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," the King said when opening the first sitting of the fifth term of the 10th parliamentary session this morning.

His Majesty's speech was greeted with the thumping of tables by the protesting opposition.

'Blame BN'

Commenting o­n the royal address, Abdul Hadi who is also PAS acting president and Terengganu Menteri Besar, said: "We cannot 'burden' the King with the speech. He merely read the text that was given to him.

"We should instead look at the BN government which prepared the text that we saw as more political compared with general speeches that had been made by the King."

He believed that the speech did not reflect the King's personal view o­n the issues raised - in particular, o­n SAR and the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English.

Expressing a similar view, Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail ( photo ) described the speech as "partisan".

The Permatang Pauh MP said it was unfair for the speech to touch o­n the SAR issue in such a manner since the Rulers Conference has yet to discuss the matter.

"As for the English issue, the opposition never objected the need to improve students' efficiency in English, but what we questioned was the method chosen by the government," she said.

PAS education bureau chief Dr Hasan Ali told malaysiakini that he was surprised with the "political contents" in the King's text.

'Middle person'

"It's obvious that the issues o­n SAR and Maths and Science have been politicised. This should not have happened. There should be a clear distinction that the rule of the King is as a constitutional monarch and not that of a King who is under political influence," he said.

Like Abdul Hadi, Hassan said the King should not be faulted as it is the Prime Minister's Department which prepared the text.

PAS Youth chief Mahfuz Omar ( photo ), too, thought the King should not have been dragged into these issues which are still being disputed.

"To date the governmennt has not been able to name a single school which has been teaching a deviant way of Islam," he said.

Asked how much control the King has over the speech, Mahfuz said the King should have taken his own position o­n the matter even when given the text.

"But we know this is difficult since the speech was prepared by the government. The government should not have put the King into this position since the King is supposed to be the orang tengah (middle person)," he said.