Meeting to discuss racist remarks by another HM
The Star
Saturday August 21, 2010
SUNGAI PETANI: The Kedah Education Department is organising a meeting between parents and authorities of a school here following complaints that the principal had scolded non-Malay students for eating outside the school canteen.
Its director Shahidan Abd Rahman said he had spoken to the school principal involved after learning about the incident on Thursday.
“We will call a meeting soon on the matter, involving him, the parent-teacher association and parents of the students concerned,” he said here yesterday.
In the incident, the principal had allegedly scolded 10 Form Three students for eating outside the school canteen at about 7am before classes began.
The students were eating outside because the lights in the canteen were not switched on.
The principal had purportedly told them off for “not respecting” their Muslim friends and that they “should return to their country of origin if they did not show such respect”.
Merbok MCA division secretary Chow Kok Leong, who received complaints from the parents, claimed that the principal also made similar remarks during the school’s morning assembly the next day.
He said there were about 80 non-Malay students at the school, which has an enrolment of 780.
“Such remarks should not be made as Malaysia is a multi-racial country and a principal is someone who holds an esteemed position in the community.
“I acted as mediator for the families and have lodged a report with the Deputy Education Minister (Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong),” he added.