Malaysia: Government school has “Muslim” and “non-Muslim” drinking cups

This hearkens back to the segregated drinking fountains in the South and apartheid in South Africa. 

“School’s policy of separate cups for Muslims and non-Muslims draws ire,” by Nurul Ain Huda, Free Malaysia Today, August 10, 2017:

HULU LANGAT: A policy of segregating drinking cups in a primary school in Selangor has threatened to spark yet another controversy involving the treatment of non-Muslim students in government schools.

FMT’s visit to Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Puteri in Hulu Langat showed that cups placed next to a drinking water dispenser at one of the school’s blocks were labelled “Muslim” and “non-Muslim”.

School authorities refused to comment when asked for a response, but a canteen worker said, on condition of anonymity, that the practice began last year under the school’s principal, who has since been transferred after a four-year tenure.

Attempts to get comments from the education ministry, including Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan, also failed.

Parent Madhavi expressed shock over the policy, while school bus operator Chitra Devi said the practice should be stopped as children of all communities should “eat and play together”.

“Money changes hands from non-Muslims to Muslims and vice-versa. So this shouldn’t be practised,” she added.

Another parent, Norsarina Zakaria, was surprised to see the photos that had gone viral over the net earlier. She disagreed with how the school had labelled the cups.cawan-2

“Segregating the drinking cups for non-Muslims and Muslims will give a negative impression to the rest. It’s as though Islam is too rigid a religion”, she said….