General view of a Rohingya settlement in Bandar Baru Sentul, Kuala Lumpur April 24, 2020. — Picture Hari Anggara
KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — A Rohingya father has claimed today that his six-year-old child has been barred from attending a kindergarten which reopened today, allegedly due to an internal policy against foreigners who are deemed at high risk of contracting Covid-19.
The father said he was informed of the ban by one of the teachers in the PASTI Islamic kindergarten that is managed by the Youth wing of Islamist party PAS, after he enquired about its reopening.
“I just want to say something about this. I am a refugee for 27 years. So I am disappointed that I am not the only one suffering from this, but even my child has to go through the same situation I faced in Bangladesh and Malaysia.
“So my child is now witnessing discrimination. Even though this school is not government, but a madrasah, unfortunately, all the other kids are Malaysians except my daughter,” the man told Malay Mail, using the Arabic term for an Islamic education institution.
The man requested anonymity due to the renewed hostility against the Rohingya community during the movement control order (MCO) period.
A copy of the WhatsApp conversation between the man and the teacher was shared with Malay Mail, with the teacher saying the procedure is the same as Malaysia’s ban on foreigners in mosques.
Last month, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said only Malaysians are allowed to attend congregational prayers including Friday prayers in local mosques, even as the MCO enters the recovery phase.
The conversation was also shared by Shafiur Rahman, a London-based documentary film maker focusing on Rohingya issues, who said on Twitter that the move showed that “Malaysians have lost their moral compass”.
Link :https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/07/01/rohingya-refugee-claims-child-barred-from-attending-pas-kindergarten-due-to/1880498
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