My friend Ming sometimes extolls various virtues of Malaysia to me - lower crime, etc. While this is an "Islamic" university requiring headscarves, it is also affiliated with the state, and you can see how they're rationalizing the headscarves as uniforms: "not religious in nature but a matter of uniforms that must be followed". Bullshit. It's making non-Muslims wear headscarves so you don't have to deal with looking at individuals who don't support your religious beliefs. Akin to making all women wear Catholic school girl outfits at the U of MN. Note, their own page about Malaysia states: "All of the world's religions are freely practised here." Apparently you just have to act like you're practicing the state religion.
And I'm fairly certain Malaysia has a much firmer grasp of 1984 than we do if they're giving their officials names like, "minister in charge of national unity".
2 comments:
It is the "International Islamic University". What can you expect? The catholic schools here do ask their students to attend bible class, don't they?
-Malaysian FrenchDip
Catholic school are not usually associated with the state and this one certainly seems to be. And my primary issue is that they're selling it as a uniform rather than a religious act. It's a religious act.
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