DAP wants Johor principal slapped with criminal charges

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 1 – DAP raised the Johor racist school principal incident again today and demanded that the government slap criminal charges on the educator for citing “racial unrest” with her statements against the Indian and Chinese communities in August.

Several DAP elected representatives, led by party adviser Lim Kit Siang (picture), sent a memorandum addressed to Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in Parliament today, calling on the government to stop dithering on the issue and to take immediate action against the school principal.

“We strongly urge that strict disciplinary action including dismissal should be taken against her (the school principal).

“We also urge that she be charged under Section 504 of the Penal Code for instigating racial unrest.

“If YAB (Muhyiddin) is serious about the concept of 1 Malaysia, please do the right thing,” they said in the memorandum.

The leaders also submitted a petition containing 2,250 signatures collected from parents and members of the public, mostly from the Chinese community in Johor, to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz in Parliament.

In a statement written by Senai assemblyman Ong Kow Meng, who was also present in Parliament today, it was declared that the school principal in the case, Siti Inshah Mansor, was no longer “fit” and should not continue to remain in the teaching profession.

“She does not have the aptitude to be a headmistress; she does not understand the cultures of the various communities; she does not have common sense to discern what is right and wrong; she does not respect the rights of citizens of this country.

“Her attempt to sow the seeds of hatred in the hearts and minds of the young and innocent school children must be strongly condemned by the government,” he said.

Ong also repeated the derogatory statements allegedly made by Siti Inshah during a Merdeka celebration at SMK Tunku Abdul Rahman in Kulai, Johor, during the incident on August 12 this year.

“Among other things, the following was quoted by the said headmistress during the school assembly – ‘Chinese students are not needed here and they can return to Foon Yew school or China’, ‘the Indian students whose prayer strings tied around their neck and wrist make them look like dogs because only dogs are tied like that’, ‘the government has targeted 30 per cent wealth for Bumiputera and 70 per cent for non-Bumiputeras under the National Economic Policy. If I were to helm the government I will instead allocate 70 per cent wealth for Bumiputera and only 30 per cent for non-Bumiputera’ and ‘if I own a Proton Saga car and if I give a ride to Munusamy (Indian) and Chong (Chinese), they remain a passengers only. They cannot claim right to the car. Likewise the non-Malay students are merely passengers in the country’,” said Ong.

He added that Siti Inshah’s “warped and distorted” views raised questions on the type of values and knowledge she was imparting to her students as an educator.

“Her remarks clearly indicate venomous bigotry and are an utter insult to the entire Chinese and Indian community in the country.

“It is very difficult for us to reconcile how a principal of a secondary school could be so insensitive as to utter derogatory words to denigrate students under her care,” he said.

Siti Inshah, he added, had clearly violated the spirit of 1 Malaysia.

The August 12 incident had sparked off an uproar in public and the Najib Administration came under fire when it failed to take speedy action against the school principal.

To make things worse, another school principal in Kedah was later accused of making similarly derogatory statements against the non-Malay community. In the incident, the educator was accused of censuring the non-Malay students for eating during Ramadan month in the school canteen.

Shortly after the two incidents, another case involving a civil servant hit the headlines in September.

BTN assistant director Hamim Husain had allegedly uttered racial slurs during a closed-door Puteri Umno function when he referred to the Chinese and Indian communities as “Si Mata Sepet” and “Si Botol”.

Since then, the Kedah principal has been punished with a heavy warning and a transfer while Hamim was suspended from his duties since October 6.

Earlier this month, yet another educator uttered racial slurs agains the non-Malay communities while invigilating for the SPM examinations at a school in Lukut, Negeri Sembilan.

The teacher had allegedly told the Chinese students to return to China and the Indian students to India if they failed to understand her instructions in Bahasa Malaysia.

She has since been relieved of her invigilating duties.

Parliament yesterday rejected a motion by DAP MP Er Teck Hwa to debate on the iss