In Reply to: Education posted by Sargent on Wednesday, 10. November 2004 at 07:19 Bali Time:
Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Egypt...
All these countries have been committed to modernisation for decades.
Malaysia's education system is much more pro-Islamic than Indonesia's, and KL has the tallest buildings in the world.
It's a very very small minority of Muslims who oppose development.
In any event, even if they do want to retain a pastoral existence, education aimed at helping them do so is still beneficial whether it is "Western oriented" or not.
I'm not even sure how you link "western oriented" education and development. Do Muslims have different laws of physics? Do their cars have different engines? Are the wheels square?
Education is unambiguously a good thing, unless everything that is taught is inaccurate. Whatever religious bias a school may follow does not alter that fact.