By Clara Chooi, The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 — Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong confirmed today that the schoolteacher who was accused of uttering racial slurs against the Chinese and Indian communities had been relieved of her invigilating duties for the SPM examination.

He added that a report on the incident had been forwarded by the state Education Department to the national Education Department’s secretary-general and was presently being reviewed in the ministry’s special committee.

“As I have mentioned before, this particular teacher has been relieved and no longer carries out out her duty as an invigilator. We will leave it to the committee to handle it according to the procedures.

“All this while, all complaints will be channelled to the committee and normally, the state department passes it to the secretary-general,” he explained.

Wee was responding to queries on the government’s action against the school teacher who had reportedly uttered racial slurs against the Indian and Chinese communities when invigilating for the SPM examinations at SMK Raja Jumaat in Lukut, Negeri Sembilan, on November 24.

The teacher, who is reportedly from a secondary school in Port Dickson, had purportedly censured the Indian and Chinese students when they arrived late to the examination hall by telling the Chinese to return to China and the Indians to India if they failed to understand her instructions in Bahasa Malaysia.

Wee however said that the committee was yet to make a decision on the incident and was still reviewing the details.

“It is premature for us to say anything. We do not want to tell you the findings before the committee takes any action or starts an investigation.

“For every case, we have a system. We lodge a report to the committee, hand it over to the committee and it will review it. So now, it is in the reviewing stage,” he said.

He added that the Malaysian Examinations Board had also received a report on the matter.

“The ministry will handle it according to the proper procedures,” he promised.

Wee also reminded that the all schools had been informed via a circular from the Education Department earlier to exercise caution and not utter racially-sensitive statements.

“It was a gentle reminder for all teachers to avoid any complications of this sort,” he said.

Earlier in Parliament today, Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia had rejected a motion by DAP MP Er Teck Hwa to debate the issue in the House as the ministry was already on the case.

Er, however, protested against the rejection and told a press conference later the government should enact a Race Relations Act to prevent the recurrence of more racially-charged incidents.

He added that the government had failed to take stern action against those guilty of making statements to disrupt national unity and racial tolerance.

He was referring to the slew of similar incidents that have been plaguing the Najib Administration throughout the year, beginning with the remarks made by Datuk Nasir Safar, the prime minister’s former special officer, who had allegedly said during a 1 Malaysia event that the “Indians came to Malaysia as beggars and Chinese, especially the women, came to sell their bodies”.

Nasir was later asked to resign from his post but no further action was taken against him.

The Najib Administration later came under fire for failing to act quickly on two other incidents involving the school principals in Kedah and Johor whose remarks against the Chinese and Indian communities had sparked off a public uproar.

In the Johor incident, school principal Siti Inshah Mansor had reportedly made derogatory remarks during the launch of the school’s Merdeka celebrations.

READ MORE HERE.

Comments (14)

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written by Surand85, December 03, 2010 08:12:00

Say no for the racial..To all teacher, please control you self.

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written by sioponthan, December 02, 2010 13:07:28

no strict action taken, so no way such problem will be solved.. I'm sure those racist will repeat it again and I would not be surprised if more teachers will doing the same thing.

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written by Andykhai, December 02, 2010 11:11:37

explanation and inquiry must be made. if she is guilty, action should be taken.

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written by bulletpain, December 02, 2010 09:42:46

take strict action to who the racist.

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written by popuri, December 02, 2010 09:32:09

If they don't address this problem now, there will be other similar issues in the near future. Just relieved of duties is not good enough.

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written by wildhorse, December 01, 2010 08:27:44

Let's get the parents to sue any teacher who make any statement that hurts the students feelings....
Basis of case? Emotional damage.......
Lawyers out there can confirm this is possible?
Waiting for the government to take action, will be forever. Hit them where it will hurt them.

Or are we just going to talk only and no action?

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written by truthbespoken, December 01, 2010 02:23:35

These type of pariah teachers should be paraded on TV and be publicly humiliated the way they had humiliated innocent students. Even if these inept educationists are not sacked which they should be, they must be taught a lesson they should never forget in their lifetime. They have committed is a sin of the highest order. Their brainless actions have scared those young social minds forever. There must be zero tolerance for such dastardly behaviour especially from the educational fraternity.

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written by OrangKaya, November 30, 2010 23:53:09

useless MCA talk cock only. All racist should be fired immediately, remember non bumi pay 90% of tax for the country.

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written by nagappan, November 30, 2010 21:08:13

This cry baby Wee has to be careful. If he talks too much he will be kicked out from his deputy minister post. That fine lady was relieved of her invigilation duties with immediate effect it seems. She will be soon given a promotion for her fine performance. That is BN for you. Wee, you are pathetic.

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written by alpha1, November 30, 2010 20:05:03

This bloody "BITCH" should be stoned!!

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written by Littlebird, November 30, 2010 19:28:13

Wow..wonder it was done on purpose. Now can go back enjoy their holidays. Who want to do invigilating anyway? All my friends are grumbling they been forced to do invigilation.

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written by Sabahfan, November 30, 2010 19:22:30

Aiiya... small thing now lah...

since the Barisan Najis didnt take action on the racial slur, then to them its okay.

why dont we test the Barisan Najis, everytime their BTN trained teachers hurl racial insults, we simply train our students the hurl back and tell these so called malay teachers to go back to Indon, iran, iraq, saudi, polipin etc???

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written by Vic, November 30, 2010 18:56:01

Relieve, transfer and all sought of excuses are no good remedies. Non performers and conduct unbecoming of a teacher the right remedy is, borrow the word from Donald Trump, "you are FIRE". You starts firing a few and they know you mean business. Now we are only transferring the problem from one place to another.

When are the civil servants going to learn. Fire them whenever they don't tow the line. The civil servants are to serve not lord over the people.

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written by batsman, November 30, 2010 17:34:54

Boy 0 boy! What a great education system we have after 53 years of merdeka! 1Malaysia is truly blessed!

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