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well, this won’t go down well with the myopic few. Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim said that he agrees with suggestion by state executive councillor for higher
education Dr Halimah Ali, who said there was nothing wrong in opening
up UiTM to non-Bumiputeras. He went further to suggest that 10% of the places are reserved for non-Bumiputeras and foreign students (something like matriculation).

He said the move would be timely as it followed the changes in the education system. At the same time, it would give early exposure to UiTM students to be more friendly towards other races.

“UiTM was set up to uplift Malays and Bumiputeras from Sabah and Sarawak in the education sector. This effort must continue.

“But at the same time, UiTM should think more globally to ensure their graduates are more friendly with people of different races in the nation.”

He said inter-ethnic interaction was crucial for UiTM graduates as they would be better prepared to step into the working world, which was far different from life as they knew it.

I can guess that the responses will be - “there are many other ways to create inter-ethnic interactions, why pick on UiTM”, “number of students in UiTM small compared to private colleges/universities, so not much effect”, “over my dead body”, “don’t dare to question our rights”, “normal Malaysians won’t be interested to join UiTM”, etc etc.

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I got to know that Deputy Minister in PM’s Dept, Murugiah was at the school yesterday along with angry and unhappy parents. Never heard anything from the sole guardian of the Indian community our beloved Samy Vellu. Maybe he has more pressing concerns involving RM70 million.

As expected, the teacher (I have got the name and photo, but unauthenticated) has “apologised” and Murugiah says the teacher will be transferred. He said disciplinary action will be recommended, but I think after a week it will be all quiet.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Senator T. Murugiah accompanied by few of his Public Complaints Bureau staff, who visited SMK Telok Panglima Garang yesterday,said the teacher regretted the incident and had apologised to the students. He said the issue was now considered closed and advised members of the Indian community
as well as parents of the affected students to accept the teacher’s apology.

She also said that she did not expect things to become so serious and has agreed to be transferred to another school.

It is still unknown if his head was working well when he was at the school. This is because the community is fuming and this deputy minister tries to sweep the mess under the carpet.

The Star reports that relatives of the affected students as well as the members of the Telok Panglima Garang Indian community refused to regard the matter as closed.

“She must make a public apology as she insulted all Indians and be transferred to a desk job and not
allowed to teach anymore,” said the group’s spokesman S. Muthamil Selvan.

Coalition of Malaysian Indian NGOs secretary Gunaraj George concurred and said his organisation was preparing a memorandum on the matter to be presented to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

As I mentioned earlier, legal action must be taken. We can’t trust the discplinary action nor the teacher’s apology. So far, no lawyer had come forward yet. Let’s see if there are only cowards in these political parties. If the parents want to go ahead, I’m confident that many people will contribute financially to support their legal action. Let this be a warning to all those who serve to “disrupt national unity and harmony” - as our ministers so fondly like to say. Or does it apply to certain groups only?

If you check the school’s website, under sesi pagi, there are 3 Indian teachers listed (Cik Vijayavaney A/P W.V. Richard, Pn Gunadevi A/P Rajadurai, En Nadarajan A/L Thambu). Nadarajan teaches Moral, so perhaps he can give his views. Hopefully all of them will give some comments. Btw, the violent racist teacher’s name is also there I believe.

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Meanwhile, the school when contacted, said they were not permitted to give a statement as the matter is currently being investigated by the police.

Its headmaster Nordin Bin Saad is on leave and was not available for comment.

Tamil dailies today reported that about 1,000 angry parents and members of the public gathered at the school yesterday to show their anger against the teacher.

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