To ensure that the Malaysian education system responds properly to the nation building, unity and the development of the country there were many curricula reviews and tremendous changes in Malaysia education since its independence in 1957. It is a well-known fact that the Muslim education system in the Muslim world including Indonesia and Malaysia is the extension of the Western educational system which is compartmentalised and secularized. As a consequence of the Western influence and the weaknesses of the Muslims, the religious curriculum in schools and university levels in both Malaysia and Indonesia are still compartmentalised. Rosnani ( 2004 2nd edition) claimed that the curriculum practiced in Muslim countries either borrowed wholesome or partially from the West and even the subjects and methodologies presently taught in the countries are copies of the Western. Here, it is important to note the statement made by Tan Sri Murad, the President of the social committee for the study of curriculum in national schools that "the implementation of religious education at National Schools have a lot of weaknesses because there are still many students can't read Al Quran and write Jawi although they had attended six years of primary schools. (Berita Harian , 26/Feb/2003).

Although there were many surveys and writings carried out for examples by Rosnani (1996), Sahari & Langgulung (1999) and Abdul Hamid (2003) found several weaknesses of Islamic religious schools such as its curriculum, lack of facilities and financial and poor administration. However, one has to remember that SAR has contributed significantly to Islamic education in both Malaysia and Indonesia before their independence. Despite the weaknesses of Islamic religious schools, informal conversations and interviews with some Muslim parents revealed that they were still interested to enroll their children at this school due to a variety of reasons:

i) With the high cost of living, many Muslim parents are both working full time thus they have very limited time to teach their own children and expect the schools to act on their behalf
ii) Some of these Muslim parents are interested to teach their own children,
unfortunately they themselves do not know how to read the Al- Quran and either have no or very limited knowledge regarding 'fardu Ain'
iii) Some parents also opt to send their children for religious classes after school hours or Sunday schools at the mosques because they feel that religious subject at the national school is not adequate or failed to meet their expectation
iv) Many muslim parents are aware and worried about the moral decadence (social ills) in the society especially among the youth keep on increasing such as drug addicts, illegitimate child , bullying, gangsterism and etc.

Thus it was not a surprise to learn that People's Religious Schools (SAR) in Malaysia mushroomed because parents were concerned about their children Islamic knowledge while the national school curriculum seemed inadequate. According to a daily newspaper, there were 500 SARs nation wide with 126,000 students receiving Islamic education in such institutions (NST, 22 Jan 2003).

People Islamic religious schools (SAR) are schools mostly built, funded and owned by individuals or a group of people offering full time students Islamic religious education. These schools also use the curriculum which has been standardized by State religious department or Department for the advancement of Islam in Malaysia (JAKIM).These religious shools received the grant given by the government i.e RM 60 per year for a primary school student and RM120 for a secondary school student. However, in November 2002, the Malaysian government has stopped their state subsidy to SAR. The government gave two reasons for i.e that SAR lack of facilities which resulted students poor achievement and lack of trained teachers and thus urged parents to send their children to national schools (NST 9/10 Dec,2002).

Rosnani (2004 2nd edition) raised a few important questions regarding this issue such as why did the Ministry take such a drastic action rather than a more persuasive and democratic approach of consultation and deliberation? Why did it occur only after September 11 ? Was the act truly based on sincere, educational concern over the welfare of the students or was it based on political pressure from outside the country? And why do the SAR authorities, teachers and parents still regard the national schools as secular and are reluctant to enrol their children there?

This decision to terminate the financial aid to SAR has affected the religious education system adversely . It was reported by daily newspaper, Star on January 12, 2003, over 2600 SAR students moved to national schools, 1500 students in Kelantan and 1150 students in Johor have switched to national schools. However, in Perak it was reported that none of 44000 students at 10 primary schools and 37 secondary schools had responded to the call to transfer to national schools (Star 12/1/2003). While on absorbing SAR teachers, the Ministry of Education persuaded them (especially those with qualification) to apply for teaching post in national schools and promised that the government would retrain the teachers with current syllabus and curriculum (NST 22 Jan 2003).

Conclusion and suggestion

In conclusion, it can be stated that the aims of the Islamic educational system is worth of universal attention because of its contribution and role in the history of education, its universality and relevance in terms of integration of personality. Its function should be upgraded in order to prepare the balance and integrated Muslim personality. In seeking to live successfully in this challenging, modern world and at the same time having a strong relationship with Islamic principles, Muslim countries have been emphasizing a great deal on the significance of the role of education and the importance of mastering science and technology.

To remedy this problem a number of International Islamic Educational conferences have been held, the first one in Makkah (1977) on the objectives, in Islamabad (1980) on the curriculum, in Bangladesh (1981) on textbook development, in Jakarta (1982) on teaching methods and in Cairo (1987) on evaluation of Islamic education. This is an ongoing process which is at the center of attention in many parts of the Muslim World and which indicates the significant questions in the Muslim world today. We therefore, suggest the following to be considered and implemented to reach cherish goals of Islamic education for the betterment of Islamic curricular reform in Muslim countries :

i. The Muslim leaders have to recognize that the issue of Islamic curriculum in Islamic education in Muslim countries is very important because it is not just a matter of acquiring knowledge for earning a living in this world or sharpening the intellect for economic pursuits but the most important is for the perfection of soul and for the purification of personality and wisdom.

ii. In order to achieve a unified religious curriculum in Muslim countries, the planners of religious education in Muslim countries have to give a strong consideration of the guidelines produced by World Conferences on Muslim Education from Makkah to South Africa.

iii. All opportunities should be opened to children to acquire education particularly Islamic education for Muslim children and to develop their potentials in all fields of endeavor.

iv. Contents of education should be accompanied by appropriate teaching methods and meaningful to the children and relevant to their needs and their problems to Muslim world.

v. Education has to be conceptualized to create a balanced personality of the children through spiritual, emotional and physical by expressing to the varieties of developmental aspects.

vi. Preservice and inservice teacher training programmes should be given attention to ensure that the new reformed religious curricular be implemented accurately in all Islamic schools.

vii. A journal specializing on religious curricular studies be published monthly for the benefit of all who worked in the field of religious curriculum.

viii. Concerted efforts must be made to prepare curricula and published textbooks that would replace the present unsuitable/irrelevant textbooks at nearly every level of our educational system.

ix. Islamic educational Institutions need to recruit qualified scholars who have sound background in both social sciences and Islamic intellectual heritage.

x. Establish Integrated religious education curriculum for all Islamic schools at all levels starting from pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary education.