PETALING JAYA, JULY 24- The MIC, echoing the general sentiment, wants the headmaster of Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Pristina in Sungai Buloh suspended immediately and sacked from government service.
Party vice-president and Deputy Youth and Sports Minister M Saravanan said the Education Ministry should suspend the headmaster with immediate effect while he awaited a sacking order.
“We know it is not easy to sack a civil servant. But the offence committed is unforgivable. He should not be allowed into the school again. He should be sacked for being so insensitive.
“This is just one reported case. We really hope there are not many little Napoleon headmasters like this running our schools. It is people like this who bring a bad name to civil servants. When these people do something, the government is blamed.
“This needs to be a lesson for all civil servants. Transferring the headmaster is not an option. He should be sacked and the ministry must be open and transparent in taking action against the headmaster,” he told FMT.
Yesterday, it was reported that the headmaster of SK Seri Pristina has ordered non-Muslim students to have their food at the school changing room due to the fasting month. The changing room was next to the school toilet.
Reports also reveal that the students were made to eat their meals there because the school canteen was undergoing renovation.
However, photographs of the school and its canteen splashed in newspapers today showed no renovation work being carried out.
Saravanan also suggested that all civil servants, especially those in decision-making positions, be made to undergo a race relations course so that they would not be insensitive to non-Muslims in their course of work.
“This happens every now and then. We must do something to stop this trend. Why is it happening? I am just making a suggestion. We want civil servants in authority to make decisions to understand the sensitivity of other races in the country,” he added.
Callous disregard
Similar call for action was also made by MCA deputy president Liow Tiong Lai.
“It’s disgusting. Such a thing should not have happened,” he said.
The former health minister also criticised errant school administrators for practising discrimination among students.
“Why do we need to look at things in a racial view when we want to implement something?” asked Liow.
Meanwhile, MIC treasurer-general senator Jaspal Singh said the shocking sight of non-Muslim children being made to eat in a public changing room has outraged many Malaysians.
“The core issue is callous disregard and disrespect for the beliefs and practices of those different from oneself, in short, bigotry. On the one hand we preach unity and mutual respect, on the other an individual in a responsible position, a headmaster, abuses the very children he is supposed to nurture and protect,” he said in a statement.
“It is clear that someone so callous and uncaring of his charges as the headmaster of SK Pristina cannot be allowed to continue in his current position.
“In fact, he should not be allowed anywhere near impressionable children. I call upon the Education Ministry to mete out the harshest punishment on this individual. Suspend him immediately,” he said.
Tony Pua: Negative ramifications
DAP publicity chief and MP for PJ Utara Tony Pua said the “transformation” of the national schools into religious hardline schools has major negative ramifications for the country’s future.
“Not only are non-Malays extremely deterred from sending their children to these national schools, those who do – both Malays and non-Malays – will be scarred for life,” he said in a statement today.
He said there was a risk of non-Malay students who will feel like they are “unworthy second class citizens”.
“The Malay students who attend these schools will on the other hand deem it is right and proper to subject other races, religions and cultures to their own beliefs and practices,” he added.
Pua said the government must put in place urgent drastic reforms if it was serious about making the national schools the school of choice for Malaysians, and the grounds to breed national unity.
He added that the Education Ministry must mete out swift and severe punishment to the school authorities.
He also said that the ministry should come up with strict guidelines on these matters in all schools.
“For example, non-Muslim students must be allowed to eat in school canteens during fasting month, and the canteen must be operated instead of being closed.
“The failure to even come up with, and enforce such guidelines would only mean that the ministry is granting tacit approvals for such actions, and will almost certainly make racial polarisation in Malaysia an irreversible process,” he added.
Azmin: A crying shame
PKR deputy president Azmin Ali meanwhile said the incident was shocking, scandalous and unacceptable.
“Ramadan teaches us to be generous, considerate and more caring to others. This is an insult to Islam and whoever is responsible must be dealt with accordingly.
“Whatever reason it may be, it is still inconceivable how the school authorities could choose a shower room next to the toilets for a place for the students to eat,” said the Gombak MP.
He also urged the Education Minister to investigate and take swift action.
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