When primary school pupils shun 'pork-eating' and 'cross-wearing' classmates

Qistina Nadia DzulqarnainPublished: Oct 15, 2026 3:03 PM

PARLIAMENT | Sarawak lawmaker Willie Mongin (GPS-Puncak Borneo) laid bare a disturbing fault line in Malaysia’s multiracial fabric, highlighting how young children are already learning to draw lines of race and faith between themselves and their classmates.

Urging government intervention, Willie (above) told the Dewan Rakyat that a teacher had approached him with concerns about pupils’ behaviour, including among primary schoolchildren aged six to 12.

“There are children who...

“There are children who do not even want to sit next to other Christian or Muslim children, with some saying ‘I don’t want to sit with them because they eat pork (or) they wear a cross’.

“If this matter is not nipped in the bud at the primary school level, it will spread and become more serious,” he cautioned in a supplementary question to National Unity Minister Aaron Ago Dagang.

Social media has become a fertile breeding ground for racial and religious polarisation. Political discourse, too, is often laced with appeals to race, religion and identity.

When such narratives are repeatedly amplified by public figures and circulated online, they risk seeping into everyday life and influencing even young children.

Whole-of-government approach

In his response, Aaron said the ministry adopts a whole-of-government approach to addressing such sensitive issues.

He acknowledged the importance of introducing measures from an early age to ensure children learn to interact with their peers regardless of race, religion or culture.

BM kolum Sekolah Selamat: Antara Slogan dan Nyawa Anak-Anak 061026 generic a child children going to school but face bullying bully and other problems

The minister also outlined several programmes and initiatives, including those promoting ethical and responsible social media use.

Aaron told the Dewan Rakyat earlier that the National Unity Ministry had no plans to introduce a dedicated national unity law to address issues involving royalty, religion and race (3R), including those fuelled by developments on social media.

Aaron said the government considers the existing legal framework sufficient to act against 3R-related offences, citing the Penal Code, Sedition Act 1948, Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, and Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

“Accordingly, the government sees no need to create a new specific law for 3R issues at present. Instead, focus should be given to firmer and more effective enforcement of existing laws by the agencies with jurisdiction,” he added.

Undecided on new bill

However, in response to a separate question from opposition MP Saifuddin Abdullah (PN-Indera Mahkota) later, Aaron said the ministry had not yet decided whether a new bill was necessary to address 3R offences.

Saifuddin had asked about the ministry’s efforts to coordinate the definition and criteria for determining when a speech constitutes a 3R offence, noting that a cross-party parliamentary group on racial and religious harmony was drafting threshold standards for such remarks.

jabatan penerangan parliament session photo sets 270323 07 aaron ago dagang

Aaron’s (above) response suggested that the question of whether to introduce dedicated legislation had been under consideration even before the National Unity Ministry was established in 2020.

“In 2019, all those efforts were rejected due to overlap with existing laws as well as public sentiment.

“That is why we at the ministry are trying our best to review these matters, but we have not been able to make a decision on whether we need a new bill,” he said.

In November 2023, then deputy home minister Shamsul Anuar Nasarah told the Dewan Rakyat that Putrajaya had no plans to enact legislation specifically targeting 3R cases.

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This is certainly a huge problem in Sarawak but not an issue at all in Kelantan. In Kelantan you can hardly find primary school students wearing crosses.

WINNING Scarecrow04:42 PM, 15 Oct 2026

Have you all wondered why kids as young as 6 to 7 years old can have such mindset? you really think 6 to 7 years old kids will browse thru tik tok looking for this kinda content? its very obvious but nobody would want to admit that most influence come from the closest people around kids. guess who is closest to them??

BlackEagle639304:19 PM, 15 Oct 2026

How can a sitting Government be the uniting force of all Malaysians regardless of their religious and ethnicity background when truly , everything is just going south with Islamization only. It truly does not denote Malaysia as a secular nation. With respect and acknowledgement from all Malaysians including me, Islam is our official religion which we all respect but that does not allow one to use Religion to divide all faiths and practices taht are allowed under our Federal Constitution. The Unity Minister must be bold and be outspoken if Unity is threatened.

BlueCougar174404:00 PM, 15 Oct 2026

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This is certainly a huge problem in Sarawak but not an issue at all in Kelantan. In Kelantan you can hardly find primary school students wearing crosses.

WINNING Scarecrow04:42 PM, 15 Oct 2026

BlackEagle639304:19 PM, 15 Oct 2026

BlueCougar174404:00 PM, 15 Oct 2026

Aaron Ago and Fadhlina are the worst of the worst ministers in the Madani Cabinet. They have no clue about instilling unity and interracial, interreligious harmony among the citizenry including young children in schools. These children spend a significant amount of time in schools mixing around with other children and the school environment play a big role in developing their character and their relationships with children of other races and creed. Yet they are left to the whims of their parents, politicians, religious fanatics and racists community leaders who instill nothing but hate and bigotry in them. What the MP from Sarawak has mentioned about primary school children refusing to sit with children of other faiths and race are sickening and should be addressed by the country's leaders as a top priority. Otherwise we are heading towards and disaster of the May 13 proportion in the not too distant future.

World Citizen03:52 PM, 15 Oct 2026

This is caused by the PM not taking quick, adequate action to nip it at the bud, all this othering , of putting others into boxes, based on what people eat, what they wear, what is the differentiating points, rather than highlighting the shared experiences, and shared values that build us together.

Squirrel03:45 PM, 15 Oct 2026

This points to something deeply troubling; children are absorbing adult anxieties about race and religion so early that it is already shaping whom they befriend, whom they trust, and whom they see as “us” or “them”. When a Muslim child is told not to befriend a classmate because they “eat pork”, or when a Christian child is avoided because they “wear a cross”, the issue is no longer just private belief. It becomes a form of social exclusion that fractures the shared space of a sekolah kebangsaan or any common institution. Primary school is supposed to be the most basic training ground for unity, where children learn to see difference as normal. Instead, the article suggests that difference is increasingly framed as a threat. This does not happen in a vacuum. For years, race and religion have been deeply entangled with Malaysian politics. Political competition often exploits fears about “the other”: who eats what, who worships where, who controls which institutions. When these narratives dominate the public sphere, they inevitably seep into homes, classrooms, and playgrounds. Children repeat what they hear from adults, and what begins as “political messaging” ends up as everyday discrimination. That is why many people have been consistently calling for race and religion to be disentangled from partisan politics. Separating race and religion from politics is a widely held principle aimed at preserving social harmony, preventing majoritarian dominance, and protecting minority communities. In the Malaysian context, this principle is not abstract. It is about ensuring that a non-Muslim child does not grow up feeling permanently suspect in a national school, and that a Malay-Muslim child does not grow up fearing that contact with others will somehow threaten their faith or identity. When race and religion are less instrumentalised in political competition, it becomes easier for public institutions—schools, teachers, ministries—to promote a civic identity rooted in shared values rather than sectarian lines. Lessons on the Rukun Negara, Sejarah, and civic education can then focus on empathy, constitutional rights, and mutual respect, instead of being overshadowed by defensive narratives about “protecting” one group from another. Parents, too, feel less pressure to pass on fear-based messages when they are not constantly bombarded by zero-sum political rhetoric. In that sense, the article is more than a report on playground prejudice. It is a reminder that political choices about how we use race and religion have direct conseque

EmEmKay03:42 PM, 15 Oct 2026

And now somebody wants an Islamic adviser from Egypt. Read FMT for more info.

Truly Malaysian03:41 PM, 15 Oct 2026

It was the government who drew this lines in BOLD, through BTN. Let's see if this government is willing to take down those lines. We'll tell them our verdict at the next GE.

Meerkat03:34 PM, 15 Oct 2026

Unity Ministry has failed same as MOE. There are adequate laws but not fairly enforced from all the malicious preachers of hate against non Muslim

GrayParrot929003:32 PM, 15 Oct 2026