I believe the reason why some people still fear the Muslim women who wear the hijab is becoz they have little or poor knowledge on why these ladies put it on. And they most probably have not had the opportunity nor the exposure to mingle and make contact with them.
For 50 years, our gov has all of the necessary apparatus to assuage this matter but it has not done so and has in fact shown to be unwilling to do so. It continues to do this so that it can rule by division.
They continue to disallow any muslim child who wear the headgear from attending the mainstream school and thus segregating the mass of the population from these people and thus compounding the misconception about people who wear the hijabs.
Many studies have shown that the younger the child is exposed to a certain environment, the better these children will be able to adapt. Unfortunately, the people that rule us think otherwise.
How then do we integrate people of different faith together? Oddly enough, the Sikh community is given the green light to wear the turban in school if they choose to.
Dont get me wrong. Im not advocating for the gov to ban turbans in pri and sec schools becoz the muslim girls weren’t allowed to practice their faith but rather to apply the policy consistently for the greater good of the people as a whole.
For all of its time in power, our gov has continued with its iniquity towards certain segment of the society in particular the malays and/or muslims.
From time to time, we will also hear the ministers on record to give their skewed perspective of the malays and muslims, creating further doubts. I wonder how our malay/muslim ministers feel serving such a government.
I also find it hard to swallow that Singapore reproves its neighbour up north for their exclusion of talent based on race but at the same time doing exactly the opposite of what it propagates.
Other than disallowing the muslim girls who wear the headgear in pri and sec mainstream schools, many job opportunities (particularly in the uniform groups) are also not made available to them by way of implementing discriminating policies. This act has unfortunately spilled over to the private sectors.
Our gov is certainly not oblivious on the aspirations of the malay/muslim community to be treated justly and to remove any doubts on its loyalty towards the nation. It has come to a point where our fundamental rights are now treated as candies to be given at the pleasure of these people governing us.
If there are social faultlines that divide us, especially on race or religion, then i believe this gov is the main contributor of such matters.
It has been many years my community keep giving this current gov their support but have seen no change to this issue. I implore my community to rethink on their choices. The support should be given to people who believe in inclusiveness. Not the artificial ones that we are experiencing now.
Ask yourself this pertinent question. How many more years do we want to wait? If we have never contributed anything significant to our own community, this is the best chance to do so on a huge scale.
We cant have any success without a little sacrifice. We should not fear the unknown. No one will change our fate unless we change it ourselves.
We need to rally our family members and friends to do what is needed. Im afraid that with the influx of new citizens, our political voices will be diminished further. It might then be too late for any regrets.
Regards,
Osman Sulaiman
Authored by Osman Sulaiman.
