Mar 28 2008
Schools are politics battleground
SHAMEFUL.
The story that schools in Penang were verbally told not to invited state leaders (PKR/PAS/DAP) from officiating or attending any functions in schools was broken by Anil Netto. He mentioned in his posting that:
School heads in Penang have been instructed or “advised” not to invite State Government leaders and other elected representatives in Penang as VIPs and guests-of-honour. The message was conveyed during a briefing last Wednesday by a senior official from the Penang Education Department, which comes under the federal-level Education Ministry.
The directive/”advice” to play on the safe-side was made verbally (and not in writing), according to a principal of a school in Penang and confirmed by another senior staff member from the same school. They were understandably indignant at the ruling.
This just shows the kind of small-mindedness among certain Education Dept/Ministry officials. I believe even DAP-PKR state assembly members who are not holding exco posts may now not be invited as VIPs/guests-of-honour to schools.
Take a look at this year’s Penang Schools Sports Council (MSSPP) meet, which is opening today in Batu Kawan and closing on Friday. The Penang school sports meet traditionally has been officially opened by the Governor of Penang and closed by the Penang Chief Minister. But this time around, my second source said that the invitation cards issued to schools indicates that the closing ceremony will be officiated by the State Education Director.
He went on to wonder if this directive will be extended to all the 5 states. Well, looks like it is. The Sun mentioned that:
Schools in the five states controlled by the opposition coalition have been verbally adviced to take a neutral stance in inviting executive councillors or state assemblyman for official functions.
And this is being interpreted to mean that the schools should refrain from inviting executive councillors or assemblymen from opposition parties, at least until further notice.
The Sun said the it followed up on statement by Prof Ramasamy:
 Following a statement by Deputy Penang Chief Minister II Prof Dr P. Ramasamy that there were rumours schools were issued verbal instructions not to invite state executive councillors for functions, theSun checked with the Penang education department and confirmed that there was such a move.
Acting state education director Ibrahim Mohamad said schools have been verbally told to take a neutral stand for the time being.”For now, the ministry has adviced that schools should invite government officials and not anyone from any political parties as we do not want to offend any party,” Ibrahim said in a telephone interview.
He said the directive was issued by the department after being advised by the Education Ministry to take a neutral stand. Ibrahim said he understood that the same directive was issued to education departments in all five states governed by the opposition.
“For now, we have been asked to take this stand until further instructions from the ministry,” he said.
Earlier, Ramasamy said State Secretary Datuk Jamaludin Hasan has been asked to investigate whether such a directive existed. Ramasamy, who is also education committee chairman, said he had heard about verbal directives being issued to schools but there was no written instruction to that effect. “I heard about this a few days ago when I went to visit a Tamil school which was in a poor condition. However, I did not go into the compound and stayed outside.
“I have not verified this and to be fair, it is not right for me to say anything since we do not know if this is just a rumour. I will give them the benefit of the doubt as it might not be true and we have to clarify this.”We have asked Jamaludin to check on this and get back to us,” Ramasamy said after a press conference chaired by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
He said so far, no official invitations had been extended to the state government by schools. “If they invite us, we are obliged to go and no one should stop schools from inviting us.”
When contacted, a school in Petaling Jaya said they had enquired about this but were told to wait for a directive before doing anything.
NST reported that:
Meanwhile, deputy chief minister II Dr P. Ramasamy said the state government was seeking a clarification from the State Education Department about a directive to school heads here.
School heads in Penang have allegedly been instructed or “advised” not to invite state government leaders and elected representatives from the DAP and Parti Keadilan Nasional to officiate functions.
The message was allegedly conveyed to them verbally during a briefing last Wednesday by a senior official of the State Education Department.
Ramasamy, who is also state Education Committee chairman, said he had directed State Secretary Datuk Jamaludin Hasan to seek clarification.
“I don’t know if the directive was really issued as there was nothing in black and white.
“However, schools are also the state government’s concern as this involves land and so forth. That is why I want a clarification about this.”
State Education Department acting director Ibrahim Mohamad could not be contacted for comment.
And this is what Prof Ramasamy’s Aliran movement had to say:
Penang Education Deputy Director should stop playing politics
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
Aliran is perturbed that the Penang State Deputy Director of Education, who is a civil servant, instead of discharging his duties pertaining to education, has unfortunately directed his attention to matters of politics. This is conduct unbecoming of a civil servant and must be condemned in no uncertain words.
We have learnt that he has instructed heads of schools in Penang to “play safe” and not invite State Government leaders and other elected representatives as VIPs and guests of honour to grace or officiate functions.
Does the State Deputy Director of Education recognise these leaders and officials as elected representatives of the people? Just because they don’t come from the Barisan Nasional, do they stop being our state leaders?The Deputy Director is treading on dangerous grounds. When he shows scant respect to our state leaders, what kind of example is he setting for others to follow?
It is a matter of grave regret that he has put into motion and sidelined and ignored State leaders and other elected representatives from participating and being involved in functions organised by schools and his department.
Is this why the Penang Schools Sports Council (MSSPP) meet in Batu Kawan this week will be officially closed by a senior official from the Education Department instead of, according to the usual tradition, the Penang Chief Minister?
Aliran would like the Minister of Education to clarify publicly whether he condones the stand taken by the Penang State Deputy Director of Education. It is a clarification that he owes to the people of Malaysia and which is anxiously awaited by all caring and concerned Malaysians.
More recently (today’s paper), Selangor MB also wants to know the state leaders are barred as well:
Khalid wants to know why reps barred from officiating at school functions
By DHARMENDER SINGH
THE Selangor government has sent a letter to the state Education Department demanding an explanation over a directive to schools barring them from allowing representatives from the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), DAP and PAS to officiate at functions. State executive councillor Dr Xavier Jayakumar said the government had learnt of the directive that barred the representatives from officiating at official school or Parent Teacher Association (PTA) functions recently.
“We do not understand the rationale behind the directive because these representatives are from the state government and they have been elected to office by the people and should be able to attend the functions without problems,” he said.He said headmasters in the state had been given both written and verbal warnings against allowing representatives from the three parties to officiate at functions.
He said Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim had sent the letter to the state Education Department after learning of the directive and had asked for a full explanation on the matter.
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It is quite possible that Kerismuddin might have given such a directive though not in black and white. Or it could be the Director General of the Ministry of Education is trying to ‘bodek’ the Education Minister to show that he is another running dog of the BN. Is he trying for a higher post in the MOE?
When government servants want to play politics, the honourable thing to do is to resign and stand as candidates for the BN. If they have no guts to do that then they should not meddle in the political affairs of the state.
The BN guys and their lapdogs are DOGS IN THE MANGER.
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