Ramasamy questions if ministry aware of 'subtle preaching' in schools

Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy today questioned if the Education Ministry is aware of the "subtle preaching" going on in schools, in the wake of a talk held by Islamic preacher Firdaus Wong at SMK Lunas in Kulim.

"Have they given their blessings to such programmes? If they have not, they must investigate," Ramasamy told Malaysiakini.

"If preaching is allowed in school by this student of (preacher) Zakir Naik, then we understand why he is allowed in the country by none other than the prime minister himself," he said.

Ramasamy was responding to Firdaus' viral Facebook post on the July 4 talk in SMK Lunas, in which he said he and two other speakers addressed groups of Form 1 and 2 students.

Firdaus said students were split into two groups – with Chinese students in one group, and Malay and Indian students in the other.

"My talk was 90 percent in Chinese (Mandarin). I did the talk with my friend Robert Ta, while Aimaan Banna spoke to the other group," he said.

Firdaus (photo) – known to be a student of Zakir – also said in his post that the focus of all the speakers was on "preaching," and not so much on the money they would receive for the talk.

This remark raised concerns among parents, and came to the attention of Ramasamy – who said that such talks involved non-Muslim students as well.

"I am not sure whether these Islamic preachers are allowed by the Education Ministry, or they come for special religious lectures outside school hours," he said.

"Are we now allowing Islam to be preached to non-Muslim children?

"As authorities are against proselytising attempts on Muslim students, likewise they should respect non-Muslim students."

Malaysiakini's attempts to contact the Education Ministry for a response have thus far been unsuccessful.

After Firdaus' initial Facebook post went viral, he issued another statement saying that he was invited to motivate Form Four students on July 3 with his talk entitled 'Becoming a successful person'.

The preacher said he was then invited back to the school for another talk the following day, this time to speak to Form 1 and 2 students.

He said that the speakers kept to general content for non-Muslim students. 

"Is the content too sensitive, causing controversy? During the programme with only Muslim students, we filled it with Islamic teachings. When together with other students, the content of the lectures was general."

"In other schools, yes I speak about religion, but those programmes are held for Muslim students. 

"Non-Muslim students are not obliged to attend, and it is up to them to be present or not," he explained.

During the talk, Firdaus said, his biodata – including his relationship with Zakir – was also introduced. 

"After several minutes of lecturing, I began to see some Indian students get up after being directed to by Indian teachers, leaving only Malay students."

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