Ministry orders school to move replica tombstone

PETALING JAYA: The Education Ministry has ordered SMK Sultan Abdul Samad in Bukit Kuda, Klang to move the replica Islamic tombstone in its school to the surau area.
"This was done to avoid confusion and to take care of sensitivities of non-Muslim students," the ministry said in a statement today.
The ministry also clarified that the tombstone was not a compulsory aspect of the Islamic studies syllabus but it was the initiative of the school to teach its students about Islamic funeral rites.
The tombstone in the school became an issue among the non-Muslim community when Hindraf chairman P, Waythamoorthy raised the matter and urged Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid to investigate and explain why it was erected in the compound of the school.