Get rid of racist principal, says Kit Siang

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang wants the government to sack the racist secondary school principal who said that "Chinese students should go back to China" and likened Indian students to "dogs".

The principal of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra secondary school in Kulai, Johor, was reported to have made the remark during the school's Merdeka celebrations and Lim is calling for the severest of action against not just the principal, but other racists in the civil service.

"If Najib’s 1Malaysia is to have real meaning, Siti Inshah Mansor should not only be removed from the education service, there should be no place in civil service for other Siti Inshahs," he said.

"The severest disciplinary action must be taken against Siti Inshah who is clearly unfit to be in the education service of a multi-racial society like Malaysia, let alone a school principal going against the very precepts of the 1Malaysia enunciated by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak since April last year," added the Ipoh Timur MP.

Lim said the shocking part of this episode is that the racist remarks were made at a significant event such as the National Day. Ironically, said Lim, the theme of this year's National Day is '1Malaysia Transforms the Nation'.

"How meaningful is Najib’s 1Malaysia when school principals like Siti Inshah show utter contempt for Malaysia’s most important and richest asset – a model of ethnic, cultural and biological diversity?" said the DAP veteran.

Not the first case

Lim also said that the Siti Inshah incident was not the first case of racism in the country's civil service or mainstream politics.

In February this year, the special officer to the Prime Minister, Nasir Safar labeled Indians and Chinese in Malaysia as “pendatang (immigrants)”, and openly said at a government function that “Indians came to Malaysia as beggars and Chinese, especially women, came to sell their bodies”.

Before that, Bukit Bendera Umno chief Ahmad Ismail had referred to the Malaysian Chinese as "immigrants", "orang tumpang (squatters) and totally untrustworthy Malaysians.

The Ipoh Timur MP added that it is clear that the Ahmad Ismail-Nasir Safar-Siti Inshah episodes are not isolated incidents but "reflects a deeper national malady contributed no doubt by the communal brain-washing perpetrated by Biro Tata Negara over the decades".

"If Najib’s 1Malaysia policy is to have real meaning, Siti Inshah should not only be removed from the education service, there should be no place in the public service for other Siti Inshahs.

"This is a task the Cabinet tomorrow should put on top of its agenda. Are the Barisan Nasional Ministers equal to the challenge?" asked Lim.