When primary school pupils shun 'pork-eating' and 'cross-wearing' classmates

PARLIAMENT | Sarawak lawmaker Willie Mongin (GPS-Puncak Borneo) laid bare a disturbing fault line in Malaysia’s multiracial fabric, highlighting how young children are already learning to draw lines of race and faith between themselves and their classmates.

Urging government intervention, Willie (above) told the Dewan Rakyat that a teacher had approached him with concerns about pupils’ behaviour, including among primary schoolchildren aged six to 12.

“There are children who...

PARLIAMENT | Sarawak lawmaker Willie Mongin (GPS-Puncak Borneo) laid bare a disturbing fault line in Malaysia’s multiracial fabric, highlighting how young children are already learning to draw lines of race and faith between themselves and their classmates.

Urging government intervention, Willie (above) told the Dewan Rakyat that a teacher had approached him with concerns about pupils’ behaviour, including among primary schoolchildren aged six to 12.

“There are children who do not even want to sit next to other Christian or Muslim children, with some saying ‘I don’t want to sit with them because they eat pork (or) they wear a cross’.

“If this matter is not nipped in the bud at the primary school level, it will spread and become more serious,” he cautioned in a supplementary question to National Unity Minister Aaron Ago Dagang.

Social media has become a fertile breeding ground for racial and religious polarisation. Political discourse, too, is often laced with appeals to race, religion and identity.

When such narratives are repeatedly amplified by public figures and circulated online, they risk seeping into everyday life and influencing even young children.

Whole-of-government approach

In his response, Aaron said the ministry adopts a whole-of-government approach to addressing such sensitive issues.

He acknowledged the importance of introducing measures from an early age to ensure children learn to interact with their peers regardless of race, religion or culture.

The minister also outlined several programmes and initiatives, including those promoting ethical and responsible social media use.

Aaron told the Dewan Rakyat earlier that the National Unity Ministry had no plans to introduce a dedicated national unity law to address issues involving royalty, religion and race (3R), including those fuelled by developments on social media.

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Aaron said the government considers the existing legal framework sufficient to act against 3R-related offences, citing the Penal Code, Sedition Act 1948, Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, and Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

“Accordingly, the government sees no need to create a new specific law for 3R issues at present. Instead, focus should be given to firmer and more effective enforcement of existing laws by the agencies with jurisdiction,” he added.

Undecided on new bill

However, in response to a separate question from opposition MP Saifuddin Abdullah (PN-Indera Mahkota) later, Aaron said the ministry had not yet decided whether a new bill was necessary to address 3R offences.

Saifuddin had asked about the ministry’s efforts to coordinate the definition and criteria for determining when a speech constitutes a 3R offence, noting that a cross-party parliamentary group on racial and religious harmony was drafting threshold standards for such remarks.

Aaron’s (above) response suggested that the question of whether to introduce dedicated legislation had been under consideration even before the National Unity Ministry was established in 2020.

“In 2019, all those efforts were rejected due to overlap with existing laws as well as public sentiment.

“That is why we at the ministry are trying our best to review these matters, but we have not been able to make a decision on whether we need a new bill,” he said.

In November 2023, then deputy home minister Shamsul Anuar Nasarah told the Dewan Rakyat that Putrajaya had no plans to enact legislation specifically targeting 3R cases.