http://malaysiakini.com/news/77437

Parents and teachers at the SRJK (T) Tun Sambanthan in USJ15 – the first Tamil smart school – are complaining that the man, S Murali, is using his PIBG position to strengthen his political base, a charge denied by the businessman.

To date, the teachers alone have lodged nine police reports on Murali’s various acts, including instances of issuing threats, harassment and violent conduct.

Parents also lodged three separate reports and they had sought the intervention of the Education Ministry, state education department, district education office and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).

“However, we have not heard anything from any of them. He is still ‘ruling’ the school, in disregard of the school headmaster and teachers and by ignoring the wishes of the parents,” a parent complained to Malaysiakini today.

The latest police report against Murali was lodged by a teacher in the school on Jan 14, claiming that the PIBG chairperson has issued a death threat to her. She had previously lodged another report on Jan 26, 2006 stating that she was worried of her safety after being threatened by Murali.

“All the teachers are in fear of him. He would just enter a classroom and start questioning the teachers on unrelated matters,” said KS Selva, whose two children are studying in the school.

Selva added that complaints made by the teachers to their headmaster too had fallen on deaf ears. In fact, he added, a headmaster and two senior assistants have been transferred out following their continuous complaints against Murali.

“Murali openly claims that he has the right connection in the ministry and the MIC. He uses this school as a place for him to build his political base,” added another parent A Chandramohan.

Bad for students, school

Chandramohan said the school has a bright future but now risk being an average school due to the high-handed attitude of Murali.

“If this continues, more teachers will leave the school. Parents too are going to take their children out. He has to be stopped,” added Chandramohan who has two daughters studying in the school.

Another parent, P Vijayakumar said that he had transferred his daughter out of the school after seeing Murali’s destructive role in the PIBG.

“He is not helping the school at all. He is a politician who wants to control the school. He wants to show that he is actually running the school and in doing so, he is destroying this educational institution,” he added.

“As PIBG chairperson, Murali has no right to interfere in the administration of the school. He has no right to question or scold the teachers. He should just be helping the school in non-administrative matters,” said Vijayakumar.

Murali has been the PIBG chairperson since 2004 and in the past four years, complaints of various nature have been made against him – ranging from harassment to abuse of PIBG funds, according to several other parents who spoke to Malaysiakini.

The parents are at their tether’s end on how to ensure that their children could study in a more conducive environment.

“The students are directly seeing Murali’s robust actions on a regular basis. They see their teachers being warned and threatened. They are scared and this is affecting their studies,” said Vijayakumar.

“On the other hand, teachers are also getting fed up with Murali’s actions. If this continues, they might just seek a transfer. The school and students will end up losers,” he said.

The parents recently submitted a memorandum to Suhakam, asking the rights body to intervene in ensuring that their rights are protected.

They are also disappointed that the Education Ministry has not acted on their numerous complaints.

“We were told that he has the support of some top level MIC leaders who continue to back him,” added another parent.

PIBG suspended

Meanwhile Malaysiakini learnt that the ministry has suspended the PIBG with immediate effect.

When contacted Murali said that he received a letter from the ministry today.

“How can they suspend the PIBG without giving any reasons?” he asked,

He also denied all the allegations made against him, saying that these allegations were made by parents who had lost to him in the previous PIBG elections.

“They have influenced the teachers to go against me and all these are the doings of this small group of parents,” he said.

He added that he has also lodged a police report against a teacher for falsely accusing him of threatening her.

The suspension of the PIBG would mean that the election slated to take place this Sunday would have to be postponed until further notice.