Will we start segregating money too?

I studied at SK Jalan Kuantan 1 in the '90s - the same school where Perak's Sultan Nazrin Shah and football legend the late Datuk Mokhtar Dahari had also studied.

During any sporting event, may it be the weekly Rumah Sukan training or an inter-class football tournament, we would have a pail of water (or cheap cordial orange squash) with four to five cups in it — just like the picture above.

We would then share the drink among ourselves.

There were just a handful of us non-Muslims studying in the school at that time as the administrators had to combine three classes of the same standard to teach Moral Studies.

It was the same during secondary school as well.

Yet, we never felt segregated.

SK Taman Puteri in Hulu Langat confirmed pictures in social media that the school had separated cups at the drinking water dispenser by labeling the cups with “Muslim” and “non-Muslim” tags, as widely reported.

It has been slammed as "plain stupid" by G25, as reported by FMT.

The same news portal quoted Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria as saying:

"Why must we discriminate? 

"We can use cups used by non-Muslims. We can use cooking utensils used by non-Muslims. 

"This practice is an insult. Don't do it," Harussani was quoted as saying.

Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) founder Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim felt imposing one's religious values on others is not the way forward, especially for children, as reported by The Star.

So will the administrators of SK Taman Puteri also segregate money received from Muslims and non-Muslims for 'jogathon', 'extra-curricular' activities or other payments related to the school?

After all, the RM50 donation for jogathan could have originated from a pork seller.

We wonder why we are not moving forward as a nation. Because we continue to segregate each other at schools.

We speak about unity, 1Malaysia, fairness and equality. Yet, there are those among us who believe we should be judged based on faith and colour.

A survey conducted by The Star showed 93% of the 1,100 voters disagreed with the school's policy to have separate drinking cups. That means 77 people AGREED to the policy.

I find that scary. Don't you?