Friday, December 07, 2012

Not Compulsory For Muslim Pupils to Wear The Tudung...

This is what  Deputy Education Minister Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi, said.
 These girls should not be forced to cover their heads in school.
 They are, however, encouraged to wear tudung and baju kurung but are still given an option to wear the pinafore.

The wearing of tudung shouldn't be an issue, Puad said.


In a circular issued by the Education Ministry in 1993, it stated that schools didn't have the authority to enforce their own uniform code on students.
Under the circular, three uniform options were given to students pinafore and blouse, baju kurung, kain sarung and tudung, baju kurung and kain sarung.
The circular also mentioned that students were required to follow the uniform code set by the ministry and that they should not be pressured into donning the tudung.

Read the rest of the Star report HERE.


It's all so nice in theory but the the truth is that some (could be many) non-religious national schools have their own interpretation of "encourage to wear".
I tell you,  some of these schools are run by religious zealots. Some principals are holier-than-thou. In some schools, the ustaz  calls the shot.

No no no..I am not talking rubbish here. Do a survey and you'll see that I'm not talking ****.

Muslim girls are not forced to wear tudung, you say?  Like I said, it depends on who runs the school.

You see,  some principals and teachers are known to shame these girls into wearing the tudung. Or they put the fear of God and religion on them.
Harassing constantly and relentlessly.
It's an unfair and one-sided battle of wit, patience and will in which the pupils usually lose.
Of course, there are some pupils who put up a strong resistance.

Many Muslims believe (citing hadith and quranic verses) that it is their responsibility and duty to remind others to be good Muslims - by pointing out sins such as not wearing tudung or not performing prayers or not fasting.

So, I suppose when you are a principal holding this belief and you are in position to make rules consistent with your beliefs, then you will "enforce" a ruling compelling Muslim girls to wear tudung.

Under such circumstances, some girls are known to wear  tudung only in school, dismissing it as part of the uniform.

The problem arises when pupils refuse to wear and are subjected to ridicule, shame and constant pressure from the school authorities as well as their own holier-than-thou peers.

That is why many Muslim parents send their daughters to private schools.

It may seem such a triviality but some girls just cannot take that kind of "torment". And in this day and age, private education is not unreachable or inaccessible.

People do have choices.


18 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is not even compulsory in Islam. A lot of people do not know this!!!

Malay Pandalela wanted said...

That is the real problem with the Malays. The close mindedness of the teachers in the schools.

While the Malays talk of sains dan teknologi but they continue to be influenced by irrational arabic culture.

The UMNO leaders and the Education Minister talk loudly about sukan success but the ustaz in schools forbid sukan! How do you encouraged women diving or swimming when aurat is very-very important to the Malays? Very soon the Malays will be like the Arabs, fat and lembik. Well even now Malay women are majority on the obese side which is part of the reason.

The Malay men in UMNO seems paralysed to talk for fear of being unislamic. But they go on and on in public about Malay women winning in Olympic rythmic gymnastics, diving, cycling. If not for Pandela who is Sarawak native no Malaysian women would win an Olympic medal. How to produce world class model and singers when suara perempuan itu aurat!

The wearing of tudung has been roundly condemned from Astora Jebat, Kassim Ahmad and many others and yet we allow the arab influenced teachers to hold sway.

The ustaz and ustazah play on the psychological fear of the malay girls on neraka with fearsome tales of burning and being poured with hot oils like in the masochist cartoons. It is not in the syllabus but the ustazah get away with it by constantly frightening the Malay girls.

It is a wonder indeed that 100 m sprinters are produced by Trengganu. Women cyclists are produced by Trengganu!

If you wear tudung how are you going to swim? Let alone stand on a platform in swimsuit in diving event. If we dont stop the rot the Malays will produce weak malay citizens which will not be able to compete even locally with the likes of Pandalela or Mun Yen.

Sudahlah Muhyiddin, kalau tak tahu nak tackle the extremists you might as well give up your posts. Hoping that the parents to do everything like fighting the ustazah and the schools principals is just not going to cut it.

It is okay to share in Pandalela triumph but it is shameless not to help Malays achieve better for themselves.

A primier school in KL even stop using its swimming pool and they are an all boys schools. So arabized principals even affect Malay boys development. The Education Ministry is just a shamble nowadays. Only interested in books printing or ict tenders.

Anonymous said...

...private education is not unreachable...

True, but quite a lot of those 'berada' parents send their kids back to gomen school when 'dah pokai'.

Anonymous said...

“Female Muslim students are encouraged to wear tudung. There are those who don't but it's not a problem. We don't force them to wear the tudung,” says the minister?

A classic case of the 'Double Bind' , i say.

"A double bind is an emotionally distressing dilemma in communication in which an individual (or group) receives two or more conflicting messages, in which one message negates the other. This creates a situation in which a successful response to one message results in a failed response to the other (and vice versa), so that the person will be automatically wrong regardless of response. The double bind occurs when the person cannot confront the inherent dilemma, and therefore cannot resolve it or opt out of the situation. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_bind

Anonymous said...

Religious people preach what they do not practiced.They are hyprocrites.Ask them whether they did commit khalwat or adultery.Whether they frequent massage parlours or brothels.Muslims,Christians,Buddhists,Hindus or whatever,they are the same.

Anonymous said...

i hate tudung.noway my kids will wear tudung.this is bullshit.johan taharin

the gaffe guy who know's said...

The problem is everybody in authority wants to be somebody.And what better way then to show off what they can do to bully their students or surbodinates to do what they are ordered to do.If they want to be somebody with power,go join political parties and stand for elections.

BIGCAT said...

This is why I don't blame non-Muslim parents for preferring to send their children to vernacular schools.

mariamsu said...

It's better said than done.We all know that every Tom,Dicky and Mary trying to outdo the other.

the gaffe guy who know's said...

If you ask me I think that the principals and the heads of gomen depts do not even have a clue that such a rule or circular did exists.Needless to say the students and civil servants.Or else they will be on the warpath,taking to the streets like the Indians against the blurdy cowboys.

Anonymous said...

All the ones in authority wants to prove that they are more Muslim than the others.Maybe that is how promotions are based on.

mariamsu said...

Maybe we have to give one oxford dictionary each to the principals of schools and department heads of gomen services to intepret the meaning of "not compulsory".

the toothless fella said...

Sister,do Muslim ladies have to wear tudung at the NST's,may I ask.I am pretty anxious to know,from a senior executive as you.

Anonymous said...

Datuk someone should tell these girls that the hair on their head is not aurat(24:31 Quran) and that the central message of the Quran is to advocate righteousness and forbid evil.Now pressuring them is clearly an example of the latter

mariamsu said...

My best guess is that there are to many baby Napoleans hanging around the land of the bolehs.Malaysia mesti boleh,kak.

Anonymous said...

Yes I agree. People do hv right to choose whether to go heaven or to hell.
But lucky enough, if you hate the tudung so much, you can still opt to send your kids to tamil, chinese or convent schools. Home schooling also can. No need to wear anything......
Ok la tu. Small thing what....

Anonymous said...

When muslim girls in france fight for their right to wear tudungs in schools, parents here fight for the right not to wear tudungs. Kelakar la.....

If you dont want to wear tudung, then dont wear la. Teach your girls to be strong to face all the pressures at school. Stop whining.

And dont confirm your stupidity by saying it is not compulsory in Islam. Let people wonder whether you are stupid or not....

Bungkus Kepala said...

Tudung fighting in France is by Arabs. It is an Arab culture.

We are Malays. We must practice Malay culture.

Who cares whether tudung is compulsory in Islam or not. There are many compulsory things in Islam which are not practical in this internet world.

We watch olympics, Pandelela Nur Fatehah wearing skimpy suits.

This is the modern secular world not Arabs.

The Arabs are backward because of their philosphy of life. This they dare not admit for fear of their own religion.

They are caught in the middle ages. Womens body and mens body part are easily available on the internet.

So why must Malay girls bungkus their kepala?

We Malays appoint Malay women as the Chief Judge. We allow malay women to drive alone with any men they like. We allow women to vote etc.

So to bungkus kepala is illogical. Malay women give up the more serious acts of being Judges before thinking or minor things like bungkus kepala.