Malaysia Agreement 1963.
"We do not need to fully depend on policies from the Federal Government and we certainly do not want policies which are inconsistent with MA63, our culture and which are leading us towards a narrow mindset," he said, following the outcry over Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik's call for Islamic teachers to make Sabah and Sarawak their battleground.
Dusing asked Dr Maszlee to explain what he means by "making Sabah and Sarawak battlegrounds for Islamic evangelism" when even right now non-Muslim bumiputras, among others, are not even allowed to attend their own faith classes during school hours under a policy of the previous Barisan Nasional Government.
“Is he promoting Islamic evangelism to non-Muslim school children who are below the age of maturity? I am not sure if any of our (Sabah) Members of Parliament have questioned the Minister on this, I hope they have," he said in a statement,Thursday.
Dusing, who is also Sidang Injil Borneo(SIB)Sabah President, was referring to Dr Maszlee's response to a question in Parliament relating to the shortage of religious teachers in Sabah. The viraled video clip has not been received well by many Sabahans, especially the non-Muslim community.
"We are shocked at his statement in Parliament where he appealed to ustaz and ustazah from Kelantan,Terengganu and Kedah who are teaching in Sabah and Sarawak to remain in Sabah and Sarawak and make these two states their battlegrounds for 'dakwah'(Islamic evangelism).
"This statement shows how insensitive he is to the religious equilibrium here. For the non-Muslim community in Sabah,thhas come to us as worrying news andcause for grave concern.
"Why? In the past,we have anecdotal evidence of Muslim religious teachers from Malaya converting minors in schools by both persuasion and coercion. One othe most prominent example is the incident that happened in SMK Kinarut three years ago, where a religious teacher proselytised a non-Muslim student without her parents' knowledge," said Dusing.
On other occasions, he said parents have found that their children were being taught Islamic prayers and some were even forced to wear the tudung (headscarf).
"When we raised these issues with the previous government,they simply denied this. What is the current governments stand on this?
"We appreciate teachers from Malaya and Sarawak who have dedicated and are dedicating their lives to educate our children here. We acknowledge their contribution and thank them. In fact,we have accepted and embraced many of them as our Sabah family,"he said.
However, he said, Muslim religious school teachers are supposed to provide Islamic education to only Muslim students in the schools.
"They are not supposed to evangelise and convert other minors. More importantly, we do not want an influx of religious teachers with extreme religious philosophy which is offensive to us in Sabah. A Federal Education Minister encouraging advocacy of Islamic evangelism by teachers who are civil servants is totally unacceptable ... it is plain to see why Dr Mazslee's statement has been widely condemned," he said.
Dusing said this is the feedback that he had received from parents and educationists around the State.
“It is the policy and practice of the Education Ministry to allocate one Muslim religious teacher for every five Muslim students in both government and the mission schools. We have never made any objection to this policy. lf there is a shortage of teachers in Sabah, then yes, the government may source from Sarawak or Malaya.
"However,what about the need for non-Muslim students? While Muslim students are required to take religious instructions at public schools, non-Muslim students have been denied the option for non-Muslim faith classes to be held during school hours," he said, highlighting religious discrimination against non-Muslim bumiputras, among others.
He said presently, in Sabah, there is a requirement for non-Muslim students to study a third language, either Mandarin or Kadazan.
"However, as there is a lack of Mandarin and Kadazan language teachers in the interior parts of Sabah, our students have been made to learn the Arabic language. We wonder why the is a third language requirement when our students are struggling with English.
"The three periods allocated for third language study coucld be better used to improve the teaching of English, Maths and Science which we are far left behind in the international PISA rankings,"he said.
"In our open society, we need to develop critical thinking in our children. The use of English and native languages should be brought back in our schools and in our society. There is a host of provisions in the IGC Report, MA63 and the Federal Constitution that safeguards our right on this matter and the power to decide rests on our Sabah State Government.
"If we face an issue of shortage of English, native languages, mandarin, science and maths teachers, then focus should be on how to train more teachers to cater for this need, he said.
He said the people of Sabah have high hopes that the Sabah Education and Innovation Ministry will take a bold stand to chart the State's education future by customising the state education policies and practices according to the state values and needs,and to prepare Sabahan children to be globally competitive.
"Sabahans have our own traditions and we take pride in our culture of respect and honour of each other's religious beliefs. This we should preserve and should be reflected in clear non-discriminatory policies and practices. I hope our Education and Innovation Ministry will strive to impart fair and just policies forthe sake of our next generation,he said.
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