Shafie Apdal gets to taste Sarawak ‘kek lapis’ at one of the exhibition booths being set up at Kuching Waterfront prior to officiating at the opening of Rural Entrepreneurs Mini Carnival. — Photo by Kong Jun Liong
KUCHING: Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal believed the recent incident concerning a Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) scholarship application interview to be an isolated case.
“I have already held a discussion with the director, especially on the moral of asking such questions during scholarship application interviews. He will look into the matter.
“I believe it is an isolated case and corrective action will be taken to ensure there is no repeat of such a sensitive issue,” he told reporters after officiating at the Rural Entrepreneurs Mini Carnival (KUD) 2014 at Kuching Waterfront yesterday.
During the interview conducted last Sunday at MRSM (Maktab Rendah Sains Mara) in Semariang, some non-Muslim candidates were asked to answer Islamic-based questions.
The incident came to light when a non-Muslim student told the media that candidates were asked on Islamic matters, such as their understanding and opinion on the Hudud law, “rukun solat” and “adat menziarah jenazah”. Candidates were also asked to name some Muslim Prophets.
Land Development Minister Tan Sri James Masing raised his concern upon hearing the predicament of the students.
He questioned the rationale for Mara to ask such questions and believed the interviewing officer should have asked about the candidates’ opinion or general idea of the government, the concept of 1Malaysia and other subjects that are more appropriate and relevant.
Masing said asking questions on Islamic matters to non-Muslim students in an interview to further their studies is plain wrong and whether they knew the answers or not should not have any bearing on their scholarship applications.