THE Malayan Christian Schools’ Council is shocked at the government’s decision not to include Bible Knowledge in the two additional SPM subjects as announced recently.
This is despite repeated representations and memoranda to the authorities concerned since June this year.
In a news report on The Star Online dated 8 Dec 2009, it was announced that the two additional SPM subjects are limited to Bahasa Arab, Bahasa Cina, Bahasa Tamil, Chinese Literature and Tamil Literature.
This decision appears to have been hastily taken without due consultation. It has unjustly excluded other subjects which are highly valued by ethnic and religious minorities in Malaysia.
Among these subjects are Bahasa Iban, Bahasa Punjab and Bible Knowledge. This marginalisation is a source of great consternation among the affected communities which constitute a significant percentage of Malaysians.
We urge the cabinet, in particular the education minister, to leave the choice of the two additional SPM subjects to the candidate. Surely, such an inclusive approach is more in line with the prime minister’s vision of 1Malaysia “People First, Performance Now”.
Yap Kok Keong
Chairperson
Malayan Christian Schools’ Council
17 Dec 2009
The Malayan Christian Schools’ Council represents the Mission Authorities of the Catholic, Methodist, Anglican, Brethren, Presbyterian and Basel Churches.
SM says
Wake up and smell the coffee, please! Do you guys [and gals] actually believe that this government is going to include Bible Knowledge in the additional SPM subjects?!
Where have you guys [and gals] been all this time? Sleeping?!
TLP says
I’m all for religious freedom.
I’m also for keeping ALL religious studies OUT of the public school system.
Let the individual Churches, Temples and Mosques address the “spiritual requirements” that parents may wish their children to acquire or assimilate.
Mixing science and math with supernatural frameworks is regressive, confusing to kids and gives rise to people like Harun Yahya.
The last thing I want my child to learn from school is that it takes a large invisible entity six days to condense matter into a planet, establish an ecosystem and create sentient life forms – then take a day to rest.
myop101 says
The point of the matter is, the govt should just standardise their criteria to consider who should qualify for higher education. If extracurricular activities are included as well, that’s good.
However, fixing the number of subjects a student can take would not do them much good since Malaysia is all about rote learning. It is indeed sad that we don’t emphasise on arts and music or even vocational training.
The stance taken by the govt is still that of one that mothers others. It is high time they just listen to the people and let them choose. After all, what is wrong with students aiming to take more than one subject? If there are desperados out there that take 17 subjects and score 17 A1s, so what? The same criteria should apply regardless. It is understood that there will be subjectivity in choosing who should and should not qualify for entrance to universities and scholarships.
But when such subjectivity is not subjected to scrutiny because of some warped sense of racial suzerainty, who is surprised by the amount of problems it causes towards establishing national harmony? The govt can always set aside a quota for the needy but the rest on merit. To however link the needy with race is a denial of the progress the nation has achieved to date. There are no victims when it comes to merit.
Philip Selvaraj says
I agree with SM, why would the govt encourage Bible study which challenges the very foundation of Islam, let alone secular humanism?