Supporters of sekolah agama rakyat (SAR) today expressed their collective relief over the clarification by the Rulers Conference that it had not made a final decision o­n the matter, despite press reports to the contrary.

Save the SAR movement (Gegar) chairperson Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid said he was pleased with the clarification yesterday that the Rulers Conference had o­nly endorsed a government move to set up a special committee to look into the matter.

PAS acting president and Terengganu Menteri Besar Abdul Hadi Awang had questioned the veracity of the press reports published last week.

Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, who was present at the Rulers Conference in his capacity as head of state, had also said he did not recall the matter being discussed.

No decision yet

Yesterday, the Keeper of the Rulers' Seal Engku Ibrahim Engku Ngah ( photo ) issued a statement correcting several press reports which claimed that the Malay rulers had backed the government's solutions o­n Islamic education issues.

Engku Ibrahim said the Rulers had been briefed by Education Minister Musa Mohamad before the start of their meeting last Thursday.

"As a result of the special briefing, (the Rulers) acknowledged that matter pertaining to SAR are being studied by a special committee set up by the government and chaired by (former education director-general) Murad Mohd Noor," the statement said.

The Rulers had endorsed the government's move to come up with proposals pertaining to SAR, with the special committee "to conduct a study and take into account all the memoranda submitted by relevant parties".

"It is also stressed that the Conference of Rulers has not yet made any decision pertaining to the SAR issue," the statement added.

Contacted today, Mohd Azmi said: "We are really happy that the Rulers did not make a final decision o­n SAR. It is good to know that they have tabled the memoranda that we sent and forwarded these to the government so that (our statements) will be considered by the special committee."

Media blackout

Meanwhile, several opposition party leaders criticised the media for misinterpreting the original statement by the Engku Ibrahim.

"It is established beyond a shadow of doubt that Umno leaders as well as the mainstream media have been most irresponsible in trying to distort the position of the Conference of Rulers o­n SAR and exploit the name of the Rulers to the political advantage of the ruling coalition," said DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang in a statement today.

Lim also took issue with the absence of coverage of the clarification by Engku Ibrahim in all except o­ne main newspaper.

"It is most shocking that the clarification has been blacked out by two of the three mainstream media which had earlier emblazoned o­n their front pages the false story," he said, stating that the clarification was o­nly published by Utusan Malaysia in a page four report.

In a separate statement, Keadilan Youth said ruling party leaders should now respect the decision of the Conference of Rulers and apologise for their earlier error.

"(The Rulers') position differs from the statement by Umno leaders who had claimed that the conference had endorsed government action (against SAR)," said acting youth chief Muhammad Zahid Md Arip.

"This shows the irresponsibility of Umno and the media controlled by Umno, by giving the impression that the Rulers had given them a 'blank cheque' (to act o­n the matter)."

Tighter control

Contacted earlier, Abdul Hadi told malaysiakini that he was pleased that it was now clear that the Rulers had yet to make their decision o­n the SAR issue.

When asked, he said he had not objected to the original pronouncement but had o­nly expressed his doubts over the interpretation by the press.

"I did not make any objections but I did not believe the reports. But the press had made it seem that the Rulers had agreed with the government," he said.

On a related development, Abdul Hadi said the latest proposal by Musa for SAR to register with the government represented o­nly another means to tightening control o­n the schools.

"(The move) is intended to tighten control of SAR and restrict their activities," he said.

However, the PAS leader said he was not certain if the schools would abide by the new requirements. Gegar chairperson Mohd Azmi was unavailable to comment o­n this.

National controversy

Yesterday, Musa told the Dewan Rakyat that the Education Ministry would be putting forward two suggestions to the SAR special committee - the schools had to either register with the ministry as private religious institutions or apply to become government-aided schools by accepting government-appointed administrators and curriculum.

The minister pointed out that most SARs are currently registered o­nly with the state governments, in accordance with the Education Act 1996.

Privately-run SAR became a national controversy when the government announced its intention to stop an annual grant ranging from RM60 to RM150 per student to the schools, thereby threatening the existence of schools which were reliant o­n the money.

The government adopted this hardline approach following Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's claim that the students were taught to hate the government - a charge refuted by the schools.

There are more than 260 SARs in the country involving 74,000 students in both primary and secondary levels. Since the government's intervention, 15,000 students have transferred to study at national schools.