Malaysia slams S'pore govt's ban on Islamic headscarves

Malaysia slams S'pore govt's ban on Islamic headscarves

Sean Young, Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur

Criticism widened in predominantly Muslim Malaysia on Sunday over
a decision by the government of neighboring Singapore to suspend
two girls for wearing Islamic headscarves to school.

The fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party -- the
country's largest opposition group -- published a Malay-language
letter on its Web site addressed to Singapore's elder statesman
Lee Kuan Yew, urging him to "correct" the headscarf ban to
preserve healthy bilateral ties.

The ban "will raise many negative effects in both countries,"
Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, the party's spiritual adviser, wrote in
the letter dated Feb. 5. "Singapore's government will be regarded
as having caused the erosion of religious freedom."

Over the past two weeks, several Malaysian politicians have
joined ethnic Malay Muslims in Singapore in voicing concern over
a decades-old government ban on headscarves at Singapore's public
schools.

The ban led to the suspension last week of two Muslim girls
who refused to remove their scarves at school. The government
says that allowing the scarves would harm national unity by
highlighting racial differences.

Deputy Education Minister Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin called on
Singapore to review the policy, prompting the city-state's
Ministry of Foreign Affairs to remind Malaysian politicians not
to interfere in its internal affairs.

News reports over the weekend said that youth leaders of
Malaysia's ruling National Front coalition would raise the issue
with their counterparts in Singapore's People's Action Party in a
Feb. 28 meeting.

Chandra Muzaffar, a prominent Malaysian human rights activist,
said on Sunday that the Singaporean government should try to
forge religious harmony by helping the public to understand and
accept diversity.

"There is no reason why headscarves should be banned in
schools," Chandra said. "This might be interpreted by some
Muslims as a lack of respect for their religious symbols."

Malay Muslims account for about 15 percent of Singapore's 4
million people. Majority ethnic Chinese Buddhists and Christians
comprise 80 percent of the population, and ethnic Indian Hindus
make up most of the rest.

Singapore and Malaysia, both former British colonies, were
united in a federation in 1963 but bitterly split two years later
over political disputes. Long-running spats over issues like
water, airspace and immigration facilities have occasionally
bedeviled relations.