| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| KL worried ulamas could foment trouble |
| 2002-11-29 |
| When the government advertised openings for 100 religious teachers recently, it got a sense of the powder keg it was sitting on. Some 4,000 religious scholars applied. The Mahathir administration fears this group, schooled exclusively in religious studies, will become an unstable fringe of Malaysian society. So serious is the country's leadership viewing this situation that in the past month, the government has suspended the funding of 500 religious schools and the Prime Minister and his deputy have repeatedly asked Muslim parents to send their children to national schools for a secular education. Give them hard skills? Something that would make them productive citizens? Why would they want to do that? It's easier to buy 'em guns and teach them to be cannon fodder. Dr Mahathir Mohamad, commenting on the hordes of unemployed religious scholars, said: 'They will find it difficult to get other jobs as they are not trained in other fields. This is the problem that will create tension in our society, especially among Muslims. Frustrated, they might turn to undesirable activities.' My point, exactly... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 Whoa look here, I got 4000 names of people to investigate, or just lock up before the trouble starts... |
| Posted by: flash91 2002-11-30 14:16:43 |