Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh said that lecturers, as educators, should promote the spirit of 1Malaysia by instilling the importance of respecting the religion and culture of other races.

He said the issue of a slide presentation by a lecturer in the School of Islamic and Asian Civilisation at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia recently, should serve as an example to all educators to avoid such controversies in future.

The materials were said to have insulted the Hindus and Sikhs.

“We should remember, that in the context of Islam itself we are taught to understand other religions and races,” Idris said. “As Muslims and Malaysians, we should know how to respect one other,” he said.

Investigations are being carried out into UTM’s presentation slides, which contained inaccurate facts about the Hindu and Sikh communities. The slides caused a row after reports and comments were widely shared online.

Commenting on the action to be taken against the lecturer concerned, Idris said the ministry left it to the university’s administration to determine the type of offence, as well as the punishment to be meted out.

– BERNAMA

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