MCA wants TITAS to include other faiths
(The Malay Mail) – Making the Islamic and Asian Civilisation Studies (TITAS) subject compulsory for all Malaysian tertiary students will foment religious tension as it focuses on just one creed, MCA said today.
The Barisan Nasional (BN) component party called for the TITAS subject to be expanded instead to include other major religious civilisations, after the Education Ministry announced recently that the controversial subject would be mandatory for all local students at private institutions of higher learning (IPTS), regardless of their religion, starting in September.
“By making it compulsory for students to study only on one religion, it will aggravate racial and religious relations and create prejudice and narrow-thinking people,” MCA publicity bureau chief Datuk Heng Seai Kie said in a statement today.
“If our students are only limited to studying Islamic civilisation, this will prevent students of other races from learning more about the other major religions and civilisations of the world,” she added. “This is not good in the long run as not only will it harm our racial harmony, but it will also reduce Malaysia’s competitiveness.”
She stressed that studying about Islam solely was not conducive to Malaysia’s multi-cultural society, which includes other religious minorities like Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and more.
“Thus, the government should focus on creating a harmonious, stable and united country instead,” said Heng.
Read more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/mca-wants-titas-to-include-other-faiths
