Voon Shiak Ni
KUCHING: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) National Women vice-chief Voon Shiak Ni has called on Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik to retract his call to propagate Islamisation in Sabah and Sarawak.
When told that Maszlee was just making the comment in his personal capacity as a Muslim, Voon said nevertheless the call did not take into account the sensitivities of the people here.
Voon said it would be wiser of Maszlee to retract the statement immediately before it triggers religious tension and disrupts the peace and harmony in Sarawak.
“We call on Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik to clarify his statement on making Sarawak a ‘medan dakwah’ and to retract the insensitive statement immediately. I would like to call on the Education Minister to clarify his recent statement in Parliament involving the issue of the shortage of religious teachers in Sarawak and that he had urged religious teachers from Kelantan and Terengganu to stay back in Sarawak to render their services and to make it an Islamic propagation field,” said Voon.
Voon added that Maszlee should be aware that his statement did not go down well with Sarawakians, and it is a statement that also goes against the federal constitution and the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“Again I wish to reiterate the same to Maszlee that the public does not want to have flip flop ministers and thus do be mindful of what you are going to say and the messages you are sending to the people and be informed and thoughtful of the cultural and racial diversity in Sarawak,” she said.