Making moral education work in a multicultural society with Islamic hegemony

In 2013, the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (Pre-school to Post-Secondary Education) was launched. Section 3 focussed on ensuring that, in Islamic Education for Muslim students and Moral Education (ME) for non-Muslims, students will be strengthened through understanding values that promote unity and foster good relations among students. Both subjects are said to complement each other in the school curriculum and are aimed at making students holistic individuals, who will help the nation progress. By means of an analysis of the dynamics of the history and politics of education, it is argued that ME in Malaysia has been moulded in an Islamic setting and is permeated by fundamental Islamic values. ME in a multicultural society should go beyond the indoctrination of prescribed values. Some alternative strategies are offered to bridge ME and Islamic Education in the challenging setting of an overtly Islamic nation with a multicultural population.