Religious (In)Tolerance: A Baby-boomer's View

As a baby-boomer, I started primary school at a Convent school in Ipoh in the late ‘50s (1959, to be exact). In those days, a Convent-education was sought after because the Nuns who run the schools were strict - we were subjected to strict discipline and in our school work, we were expected to cross every “t” and dot every “i”. My eldest sister was also convent-educated. So were my two aunts, their children and their grandchildren.

To encourage us to speak good English, anyone who spoke in their mother-tongue in class would be fined one sen (RM0.01) per incident. This sometimes happened when students interacted socially in class and sometimes, the Nuns/teachers heard those side conversations. Considering that for some of us lunch money back then was 10 sen (RM0.10) per day, to be fined one sen was frightening; especially since students may have repeat incidents. The money collected would be used to buy books for the school library and our subjects during the week included time in the Library where teachers read to us (I remember my favourite book was titled “Jack and Jill”).

I remember one day when I returned from school, after lunch, my late father asked me (in front of my mother) what I had learnt at school that day. Being an impressionable seven-year old, I proudly recited the Catholic prayers that were being recited every morning during assembly. Muslim students were exempted from reciting these prayers but at that age, our brains absorbed knowledge very quickly. So, I stood at attention and proudly recited the following prayers (including emulating the cross on my forehead, chest, right shoulder and left shoulder):

"Our Father,
Who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name;
Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen".

"Hail Mary
Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen."

My mum almost hit the roof because in her mind, it confirmed her suspicion that the Nuns were trying to convert me to Christianity and she blamed my father for insisting that I was enrolled in a Convent school. My father then quietly explained to me that the prayers I just recited were for Christians but being Muslims, our prayers were different, although I knew it then because I had learnt to read the Quran by then and we were also taught the basics of prayers.

Fast forward 52 years…..today, I am still a grounded Muslim and I am trying to improve my understanding and appreciation of the religion that I was raised to believe in. To this day, I am still able to recite the Catholic prayers above but that does not make me a Christian or any less a Muslim.

In a multi-racial society such as Malaysia, we should be more tolerant and not look at others' religion through our individual lenses that are colour-tinted by our religious beliefs.