KUCHING: Sarawak remains committed to nurturing Muslim intellectuals equipped with both religious grounding and modern knowledge.
Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said the effort has been carried forward from the time of former Sarawak Governor, the late Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud; former Chief Minister, the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem; and now under his administration.
“Our government, from the time of Tun Taib, then Pehin Sri Adenan, and now myself, continues the effort of producing Sarawakian Muslim intellectuals with the knowledge needed by the world,” he added.
Abang Johari said this in his speech when officiating the opening of Sekolah Rendah Agama Majlis Islam Sarawak No. 2 Kuching, here today.
He said the state had progressively expanded Islamic stream schools under the Sarawak Islamic Council (MIS), beginning with preschools under BINA, then primary schools such as Sekolah Kebangsaan (A) Datuk Haji Abdul Kadir Hassan, and secondary schools like Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Tun Ahmad Zaidi (TUNAZ).
“Today, we have expanded Islamic stream schools under the care of Majlis Islam, not only in Kuching but throughout Sarawak,” Abang Johari added.
“From this model, we received good responses from the Muslim community itself, where they prioritised our Islamic schools because of the syllabus and approaches we introduced that are holistic and pragmatic.”
Abang Johari added that Islamic education in the State should also encompass other disciplines to prepare students for both worldly success and the hereafter.
“The children we nurture must be balanced – they are grounded in their faith, yet able to master other fields of knowledge,” he said, noting that students in Islamic schools are also better able to retain languages such as Arabic, English and Malay.
He said the state government is expanding Islamic schools under Majlis Islam, taking the initiative to complement the federal system.
While education falls under federal jurisdiction, Sarawak has introduced its own schools based on the national curriculum, tailored to meet the state’s needs.
“In other words, it is the national syllabus plus state requirements – producing students who are firmly grounded in faith while mastering the disciplines demanded by today’s world,” Abang Johari reiterated.
He noted that the approach mirrors the tradition of Islamic intellectualism, pointing to the flourishing of great scholars from Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
“Ibn Khaldun, for example, is often mentioned as the father of economics – and Western economists themselves derived their theories from his works. This shows that we are not departing from such an approach,” he said.
Abang Johari said the children nurtured under Sarawak’s Islamic education model would be balanced, firmly rooted in faith while mastering knowledge and skills that are relevant globally.
