By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
The Malaysian Insider
October 13, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 — The DAP demanded today that Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan be hauled up in Parliament for failing to take swift action against “racist” civil servants.

DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang said that the Chief Secretary’s silence on the matter was a mockery to the Najib administration’s reform plans.

“This is an utter mockery of the government transformation programme when two months have elapsed but nothing has been done with regards to the principals.

“Perhaps the chief secretary does not understand the meaning of people first, performance now,” said Lim.

The Chief Secretary said yesterday that the government will follow proper procedure in dealing with two school principals and a Biro Tata Negara (BTN) official for making racist remarks.

But the Chief Secretary did not say whether the three had been found guilty or whether they had already been disciplined.

Yesterday Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin refused to allow a debate in Parliament over the alleged racial slurs made by two school headmistresses, claiming that action had already been taken against them.

Pandikar did not, however, provide any details on the supposed action taken against the two.

“The Chief Secretary must be hauled up in Parliament for failing to take action…has the Dewan Rakyat speaker been informed (about whether the principals have been disciplined)?

“The government’s failure to take action against the principals is more eloquent than Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s speech at the MCA AGM,” the Ipoh Timur MP told reporters in Parliament.

BTN assistant director Hamim Husan, during a recent closed-door Puteri Umno function, referred to the Chinese and Indian communities as “Si Mata Sepet” and “Si Botol” respectively when asking Puteri Umno members to approach the non-Malays for votes.

“The ‘si mata sepet’ that has never gone to a mosque or surau only has one vote. The ‘si botol’ that only knows how to go up to Batu Caves up and down only has one vote,” Hamim told the closed-door gathering, as reported in The Malaysian Insider.

Siti Inshah Mansor, the principal of SMK Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, had allegedly told students during an assembly that the Chinese could return the China and likened Hindus to “dogs” because of their prayer strings.

“Pelajar-pelajar Cina tidak diperlukan dan boleh balik ke China ataupun Sekolah Foon Yew. Bagi pelajar India, tali sembahyang yang diikat di pergelangan tangan dan leher pelajar nampak seakan anjing dan hanya anjing akan mengikat seperti itu,” she had allegedly said.

Following the public uproar over her controversial statement, about 20 police reports were lodged against the principal.

In the Kedah case, Ungku Aznan Ungku Ismail, the school principal for SMK Bukit Selambau in Sungai Petani, caused a national outcry when he allegedly uttered racial slurs to his non-Malay students.

Ungku Aznan had allegedly publicly told several Chinese students to go back to China for “behaving disrespectfully” when they were seen having breakfast in the school canteen during the Ramadan fasting month.

He later escaped stern punishment when he was reassigned to an office in the district education office at Kuala Muda in Sungai Petani, shortly after the incident, drawing flak from many political leaders.

Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin recently said he had no authority to take any action against the principals, and had allowed them to continue their duties.

Muhyiddin claimed that this was because disciplinary matters involving high-ranking civil servants come under the jurisdiction of the Public Service Department (PSD).

The deputy prime minister then said that only the PSD had the power to decide on the case.

Earlier this month, PSD director-general Datuk Seri Abu Bakar Abdullah told a press conference in Putrajaya that the department had already received a “six-inch thick” report from the Education Ministry on the matter.