Amid hue and cry, Rafizi speaks up for TITAS

 

(The Malay Mail) – “Politically, it’s not helping when it’s made too much of a fuss, because it fits the Malay right-wing argument that the Chinese and non-Malays refuse to understand and look down on everything Islam” 

PKR’s Rafizi Ramli has come out in support of the controversial Islamic and Asian Civilisation Studies (TITAS) subject soon to be compulsory in private tertiary institutions, even as Pakatan Rakyat (PR) ally DAP pushes to reverse the decision.

Disagreeing with the view that Putrajaya’s decision to impose TITAS upon Malaysian students at private institutions of higher learning (IPTS) indicated “creeping Islamisation” in the country, the PKR strategy pointed out that the subject was “pretty much educational”.

“Politically, it’s not helping when it’s made too much of a fuss, because it fits the Malay right-wing argument that the Chinese and non-Malays refuse to understand and look down on everything Islam,” Rafizi (picture) told The Malay Mail Online yesterday.

But he stressed that politics aside, TITAS should not affect one’s cumulative grade point average (CGPA). Malaysian Studies, which local students in public and private universities are required to take and pass, does not count towards the aggregate score.

“If people have to take it to learn, I think more and more people will embrace it and learn it with open minds,” said the Pandan MP. “If universities are run more on the basis of knowledge rather than churning out degrees, I don’t think it’s going to be too much of a problem.”

Political analyst Dr Lim Teck Ghee from the Centre of Policy Initiatives (CPI) said yesterday that making TITAS mandatory for all Malaysian tertiary students was Putrajaya’s attempt to impose “ketuanan Islam” (Islamic supremacy) on to the country.

Former Perlis Mufti Datuk Dr Asri Zainul Abidin said on Friday, however, that there was nothing wrong with learning about Islam, the religion of the majority of Malaysians, pointing out that Islamic scholars similarly study other faiths such as Christianity and Judaism.

The prominent Islamic cleric also warned the DAP that its opposition towards TITAS would damage the goodwill it has built up with the Malay-Muslim community.

On Friday, the DAP’s Seremban MP Anthony Loke said that forcing TITAS onto students would create a negative impression of the subject, instead of fostering communal understanding.

MCA publicity chief Datuk Heng Seai Kie went further to say that the move would incite religious tension in multicultural Malaysia. She called instead for TITAS to include studies of other major religions and civilisations in the world.

Despite his approval of TITAS, Rafizi acknowledged that the national education system may not have enough emphasis on the study of Chinese, Indian or European civilisations.

“But I don’t think learning about Islamic civilisation is wrong,” he said. “People may argue that enough is being put in secondary school, but there’s no limit to knowledge.”

Historian Dr Ranjit Malhi Singh complained in 2011 that the secondary school history texts are too Islamic- and Malay-centric, noting that five out of 10 chapters in the current Form Four history textbook revolve around Islamic history compared to just one chapter in the earlier edition.

He has also pointed out that more than a quarter of the text on Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Hinduism was reduced from the previous edition.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also education minister, said in Parliament on Thursday that TITAS will become mandatory for local students, regardless of their religion, at IPTS starting in September.

He said the move was meant to streamline the requirements between public and private tertiary institutions.

Expanding on his objection, Loke told The Malay Mail Online yesterday that the Education Ministry’s decision on TITAS was politically motivated.

“He is trying to shore up his political capital in the run-up to the Umno general assembly,” Loke said, referring to Muhyiddin. “It’s not good for our education system when politics are being brought into the education system.”

Heng told The Malay Mail Online that making TITAS a compulsory subject was akin to moving “backwards”.

“We should be moving forward,” she said. “We want our generation to be a global people and we want to make them more inclusive.”