KOTA KINABALU - A Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) federal lawmaker has joined angry parents here in demanding that the teacher involved in the alleged conversion of a Christian student be transferred to an all-Muslim school.
In a Facebook post, United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) acting president Datuk Madius Tangau said a request for the transfer has been made with the Sabah Education Department.
“I’ve requested the State Education department director transfer her to somewhere without a lot of non-Muslim students.
“Instead she should be moved to a Sekolah Menengah Agama where all 100 per cent of its students are Muslim,” the Tuaran MP wrote.
He was replying to a recent post by an outraged Sabahan urging parents here to be concerned for their children in the school where the teacher was moved to several months ago before the conversion controversy hit media headlines.
Tangau’s comment received many likes, with some expressing support for the move, claiming it would stop the teacher from “breaking up another family”.
Angry Sabahans have been campaigning against the teacher, formerly a hostel warden in SMK Kinarut where the Christian teen’s alleged conversion took place, after the Sabah Education Department absolved her and the school from any wrongdoing.
Jilius Yapoo
According to the department’s findings, the 16-year-old girl had decided to embrace Islam on her own accord.
Messages have since been going viral on social media platforms like Facebook and Whatsapp, with some, after claiming that the teacher is now at SMK Tamparuli, urging parents to be wary of any illegal religious conversion activities.
“Take necessary precautions because the teacher involved in the “Islamisation” of an underaged student is now teaching in SMK Tamparuli. Please monitor this teacher because what she did is wrong and damages the institution of the family,” said one Facebook user Cholyne Roy Jumin Jimmy.
“Her washing her hands of this incident is also very inappropriate. Do take cautionary measures. Don’t let your children be her next victim,” he said in a Facebook post on February 20.
Other comments also called for the school and the teacher involved to be held accountable for breaching the parent’s trust in the school system which should not be interfering in a student’s religion.
The controversy came to light earlier this month when 46-year-old rubber tapper Jilius Yapoo filed a police report alleging his daughter was converted to Islam while at boarding school at SMK Kinarut.
The student, originally a Christian from the Sidang Injil Borneo church, had reportedly recited the “kalimah syahada” to declare her acceptance of Islam and donned the tudung, or headscarf, without her parents’ knowledge.
It was alleged that the incident was witnessed by school’s former hostel warden in question.
When contacted, state Education Department director Datuk Jame Alip declined to comment on the matter for now but said he will answer in a few days.
He had also previously confirmed that the teacher involved was transferred “late last year” to another school in the Tuaran district.
SMK Tamparuli is in the Tuaran district.
According to the law, a minor’s religion is decided by her parents. Under religious law, reciting the syahada suffices to make a person Muslim, but not under the constitution, which states that the under-aged child needs her parent’s consent.
Sabah police Commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman has confirmed that the student, despite reciting the kalimah syahadah, and donning the tudung, she is not officially a Muslim because there are no official supporting documents.
Jilius is in the process of transferring four of his children, including the daughter in the centre of the controversy to another boarding school with a hostel run by Catholics. - Malay Mail
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