Muslim NGO Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) has urged the government to defend the religious rights of a teacher who was allegedly told to remove her tudung (headscarf) if she wanted to continue teaching at a vernacular school in Johor.

In particular, Isma has urged Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan, who represented the ministry in several issues pertaining to Indians and Hindus in schools, to step up to the plate.

"Where has Kamalanathan gone? Surely he will not only speak for justice for Indians and Hindus only? He was rushing to the scene in the issue of (cow) slaughter in schools," said Isma's media bureau chief Kamil Azmi Tohiran.

In a statement today, Kamil said this is a matter of racial and religious discrimination which should not be dismissed by the authorities.

He was commenting on an Utusan Malaysia report published yesterday that a 25-year-old Muslim teacher was told by the school board of a Kota Tinggi national-type Chinese-medium school (SJKC) to remove her tudung if she wanted to continue teaching there.

The daily reported that the woman, who wanted to observe the Muslim way of dressing, also received threats to her safety while police confirmed that a report has been lodged over the matter.

                

It also reported that residents of the village where the school was located had erected banners and pasted dozens of posters in protest at the matter.

Last year, religious tensions rose when non-Muslim parents at a school complained over the issue of the Islamic ritual of cow slaughter conducted in the school compound.

Prior to that there was also a dispute over non-Muslims students who had to eat in a shower room converted into an eating room during Ramadan.

A parent claimed the students were made to eat there so as to not tempt the Muslim students, but the principal said the canteen was under renovation at the time.