I was merely voicing public concerns: Syed Hood
B. Suresh Ram
KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 4, 2007): Syed Hood Syed Edros (BN- Parit Sulong) has defended his Oct 29 debate in the Dewan Rakyat (Parliament) in which he questioned the display of images of Jesus, Mary and crosses in mission schools.
"I was merely voicing the concerns of the public at large. I only wanted the Education Ministry to provide a clear explanation on this," he told reporters in Parliament lobby today.
Syed Hood stressed that he does not have any problems with mission schools and backed this up by saying that his eldest daughter used to study in the Batu Pahat Convent Primary School.
He said he was not worried about the possibility of facing sedition charges over his remarks."Malaysia is a free country. If anyone is upset they can lodge a police report," he said.
On Monday (Dec 3), deputy whip and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said he had not received any complaints from Barisan Nasional members about Syed Hood's speech. He said the public can lodge a report with the police.
Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang has called upon Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to state how many mission schools in the country have had the cross in their school emblem replaced.
He also called upon the minister to give a full list of the schools concerned and the particulars on the year and reasons for removing the items.
"Although Deputy Education Minister Datuk Noh Omar said in Parliament on Monday that the ministry will not remove the cross and statues from mission schools, I have received complaints on my blog of mission schools where the cross had been replaced in the school emblems," Lim said.
He said the schools are:
St David High School, Bukit Baru, Malacca, where the cross has been replaced by a crown,
Convent Girls School, Muar, Johor, where the cross was replaced with a crescent moon on its badge, and
Methodist Boys Secondary School, Kuala Lumpur.