FULL REPORT KUALA LUMPUR: Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz has defended the snail-paced action against two principals who uttered racists remarks against their students.
According to him, the authorities were in the proces of initiating action against the principals from Kedah and Johor respectively.
The delay, he explained, was a result of having to follow the due process.
“There is an English saying, better late than never,” he told the Dewan Rakyat in response to a question from Lim Guan Eng (DAP-Bagan). “But (in this case), I must stress that it is not too late.”
The minister said this was the first time in the history of the Malaysian civil service where government officials had been cited for racism.
He said the investigation into the Johor case was time-consuming as it involved many witnesses, who had different versions of the incident.
"So the investigating committee had to process every witness' statement to reveal the truth behind the accusation. But most importantly, the principal had been suspended immediately," he added.
Nazri stressed that the government did not want to make a hasty decision, and the principals also had the right to defend themselves.
"In this situation, we need to see the circumstances surrounding their statements, whether the statements were made intentionally or not. They could be angry about something when they uttered the remarks.
"We need to take everything into consideration, only then can we make a fair decision for," he said.
Two months ago, the principal of SMK Bukit Selambau in Kedah had told a group of Chinese students “to go back to China” when he spotted them having breakfast in the school canteen during the fasting period.
Prior to this, the principal of SMK Tengku Abdul Rahman Putra in Johor had ignited a firestorm of protests for making racial remarks when launching the school’s Merdeka celebrations.
The principal, identified as Siti Inshah Mansor, was alleged to have said that Chinese students were not needed here and should return to China while the prayer strings tied around the necks and wrists of Indian students made them look like dogs.
Following this, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also education minister, came under fire when he distanced himself from the matter.
Muhyiddin said he could not act against the duo because their high pay-scale placed them beyond the jurisdiction of his ministry, and only the Public Service Department could act against them.
Kit Siang blames BTN, Nazri disagrees
Meanwhile, Nazri said the Johor principal was transferred to the state education department on Aug 23.
He said the government had issued a “notice of accusation” against her on Oct 8, and action would be taken after 21 days.
"We issued the letter after considering that the principal has appealed and retracted her statement during a meeting with non-Malay teachers, " he added.
As for the principal from Kedah, Nazri said the Education Ministry had issued a warning and the principal made a public apology.
"He was later suspended and reassigned to the Kuala Muda district office on Aug 23," he added.
The minister also denied the allegation by Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) that the incident was caused by the “indoctrination” of the National Civics Bureau (BTN).
"Isn't the minister aware that these racist remarks were caused by the indoctrination of BTN? There are seeds of racism planted in the courses,” said the opposition leader.
"Instead of just reviewing the courses' module, is it not better for the government to just shut down BTN, which has been acting against the 1Malaysia concept?" he told the Dewan Rakyat.
Nazri disagreed, saying that the modules were already being reviewed to reflect the unity concept and there was no need for it to be shut down.
Even before the dust could settle on the controversy surrounding the principals, BTN's deputy director Hamim Husain landed in the limelight for allegedly making racist remarks during a closed-door meeting.
However, Hamim denied that he had reportedly referred to Chinese Malaysians as “Si Mata Sepet” (slitty eyes) and Indian Malaysians as “Si Botol” (alcoholics) as reported.
What about Namewee?
In a related development, Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) asked Nazri if the government planned to take similar action against rapper Wee Meng Cheng, popularly known as Namewee, over his “racist” remarks in a video clip he had made in relation to the principals.
"We will take action against Namewee but we cannot take a similar action because he is not a civil servant. He is not a principal and not a civil servant. But there are police reports lodged against him, and we will take the appropriate action," replied the minister.
Following this, Guan Eng had asked if other BN MP's were prepared to emulate Nazri's “Malaysian first, Malay second” proclamation.
However, Nazri brushed this off, saying that there was no need for them to do so as they had been united as Malaysian in governing the nation for 59 years.
"But for Pakatan Rakyat, they need to say this repeatedly because DAP is branded as Chinese chauvinists and PAS as Muslim extremists. That is why they need to say it many times," he said.
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