by Zaidatul Syreen Abdul Rashid Malaysiakini Mar 8, 11
Three Form Five students were yesterday taken to the Kuala Kubu Baru district police headquarters and traumatised by being questioned for 10 hours – all for wanting to return the novel Interlok to their headmaster last Friday.
Initially, seven SMK Kuala Kubu Baru students, who wanted to return the book because they were not happy with its contents, were stopped by a discipline teacher who allegedly abused them verbally.
“All seven of us we were walking calmly towards the headmaster’s room when our discipline teacher stopped us and started making comments at us, which hurt our feelings,” said one of the students, who was with four others at the Human Rights Party headquarters today.
According to the student, the discipline teacher said the students were purposely creating problems because of their race.
The teacher reportedly said, “Kenapa orang India garang? India memang suka rosakkan nama sekolah. Keling memang dasar pariah sejak sejarah lagi” (Why are the Indians so fierce? Indians really like to tarnish the school’s name. The keling have been pariahs since historical times).
The students were not able to return the novel as the teacher told them to disperse immediately.
Three students taken to police station
Yesterday, while the students were in school, the head of the parent-teacher association, Baktiar Md Rashid, who is also a police officer, took three of them to the police station for questioning, without the consent of their parents.
P Gomathi, 42 (left), the mother of one of the students, said she was angry that her son was taken to the station without her presence or permission.
“My son did not commit any crime. He just wanted to return a book that he didn’t enjoy reading.
“Instead he was humiliated and taken to the balai like some kind of hardcore criminal, in a patrol car,” she said, adding that the school authorities did not inform her about this.
The novel Interlok, written by national laureate Abdullah Hussein, made headlines recently as critics have argued that it portrays the Indian and Chinese communities in a bad light.
There have been protests against the book since the Education Ministry’s decision to use Interlok as a compulsory textbook in secondary schools. This is the first case of students being taken to a police station and questioned over the book.
Gomathi was informed of her son’s whereabouts at 10.30am by a classmate. When she reached the station, she said, she was told that her older son, A Sanjeevkumar, had also been called in for questioning as the discipline teacher had made a police report against him.
“She (the discipline teacher) said in her police report that my older son brought 100 Indians from Kuala Lumpur, from the Gang 36, to threaten her and her family,” Gomathi added.
She sees this as a desperate move by the teacher because Sanjeevkumar was away in Kuala Lumpur the whole week when this issue started.
Sanjeevkumar said: “I was a student in this school two years ago, and I have never been involved in any problem. No problem with the teachers or other students.
“Therefore, it is not fair for the teacher to pin it on me on grounds I was a former student who ‘turned’ into a gangster to influence my younger brother.”
Gomathi yesterday lodged police reports against PTA chief Baktiar and the teacher.
“I am not happy with what has happened. It was a school drama that should have ended there.
“Baktiar was misusing his authority. He should have had his ‘parent teacher association’ cap on, as the matter concerned school children in the school compound… not putting on his ‘DSP police cap’ on, arresting the children and taking them to the balai for questioning.
“After all it’s just a book,” she added.
‘A night in jail’ threat
Asked what took place at the police station, the teary-eyed student said the police threatened that he and older brother Sanjeevkumar would be spending a night in jail.
“I asked for permission to call my parents but they (the police) wouldn’t let me, saying I was in only for questioning, and that they were not going to arrest me. The other two of my friends were also not able to call their parents.”
As to what the student now wanted from the authorities, he simply answered, “I want to go back to school macam biasa (like normal). Jumpa semua kawan (see all my friends).
“Sebab hari Jumaat, banyak cikgu lain yang dengar cerita ini, semuanya cakap sorry dekat kita. (Last Friday, most of the other teachers who heard of this issue, came and said sorry to us).
“So, all I want is the discipline teacher to apologise to us. That’s it.”
HRP president W Sambulingam (left), who was present at the press conference, said it was unfair to put the students through such an ordeal at a tender age.
“This is what I say, harapkan pagar, pagar makan padi. The police are supposed to educate and keep the people from harm. Instead, they lock up students. And for what? For trying to return the novel Interlok.
“As we have been saying since the beginning, Interlok must be removed immediately. Look at it today, see for yourself what it has done to this particular school,” Sambulingam added.
“Malaysia is a beautiful country, with beautiful people, so please do not make it ugly with hidden racial agendas. Don’t ever victimise the nation.”