PM warns against head scarves

PM warns against head scarves

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong has warned local Muslims against asserting their own identity and involving outsiders in a campaign to allow the wearing of Islamic head scarves in public schools.

The Straits Times reported on Monday that Goh revealed over the weekend that some Singaporeans had traveled to Malaysia to seek support and raise funds for their cause following a controversy over the head scarf ban.

Three Singaporean Muslim schoolgirls have been suspended and another withdrawn by her parents after they flouted the ban, aimed at promoting racial integration in Singapore. Meanwhile in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said on Monday that Malaysians will not be prevented from criticizing Singapore's ban on Islamic head scarves at school as it concerns all Muslims

Syed Hamid said: "The issue of head scarves concerns Muslims worldwide. This is not a question about interference in (Singapore's) internal affairs. --AFP