Parents are fuming over a letter from a Kuala Lumpur primary school headmaster directing non-Muslim pupils not to bring non-halal food to school.

Parents who received the letter had called Zainal Abidin Senapi, headmaster of Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Mega to complain and seek clarification on its contents.

Zainal's letter dated July 14 sent to parents and guardians of students read: "Please be informed that non-Muslim students are altogether forbidden from bringing non-halal food to school, forbidden from using canteen utensils, for example forks and spoons, and from throwing rubbish into rubbish bins."

In the letter made available to malaysiakini , the headmaster also wrote that the matter must be viewed seriously in order to respect Islam as the official religion of the country and to respect the school's canteen operator.

Contacted today, the headmaster of the school for the past two years explained that the matter involves the Muslim canteen operator who had complained about students eating non-halal food in the canteen.

"When I received the complaint, I checked the school's records and found that the previous headmaster had also issued a similar circular based on a directive from the Education Ministry," he said.

However Zainal admitted that he personally did not get the approval of the ministry and neither did he consult the parent teacher association before issuing the letter.

He agreed that it was a "sensitive" issue to the school's 60 percent non-Muslim students.

Rubbish collected by Muslims

He explained that the students can bring non-halal food into the school but are not allowed to eat it in the canteen.

"They are also not allowed to throw food into the bins as the rubbish is collected by Muslims," he explained.

Zainal said he planned to contact the Kuala Lumpur Education Department today to check if he has to issue a new letter to clarify the matter.

"It should be clear next week if I need to make changes to the original letter after I've consulted officers from the department's special unit on food and canteen regulations," he added.

Meanwhile, an officer from the student affairs unit at the ministry's school department said he had no knowledge of the letter issued by the school in Taman Overseas Union.

"There should be no problem with non-Muslim students throwing food in the dustbins as well as using the utensils," said Education Department's Saari Mian.

However, he said that it was unclear whether non-halal food could be brought into the school.

He advised that the matter be referred to the director of the state education department.