DAP wants chief secretary hauled up for inaction against ‘racist’ civil servants

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
The Malaysian Insider
October 13, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 — The DAP demanded today that Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan be hauled up in Parliament for failing to take swift action against “racist” civil servants.

DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang said that the Chief Secretary’s silence on the matter was a mockery to the Najib administration’s reform plans.

“This is an utter mockery of the government transformation programme when two months have elapsed but nothing has been done with regards to the principals.

“Perhaps the chief secretary does not understand the meaning of people first, performance now,” said Lim.

The Chief Secretary said yesterday that the government will follow proper procedure in dealing with two school principals and a Biro Tata Negara (BTN) official for making racist remarks.

But the Chief Secretary did not say whether the three had been found guilty or whether they had already been disciplined.

Yesterday Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin refused to allow a debate in Parliament over the alleged racial slurs made by two school headmistresses, claiming that action had already been taken against them.

Pandikar did not, however, provide any details on the supposed action taken against the two.

“The Chief Secretary must be hauled up in Parliament for failing to take action…has the Dewan Rakyat speaker been informed (about whether the principals have been disciplined)?

“The government’s failure to take action against the principals is more eloquent than Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s speech at the MCA AGM,” the Ipoh Timur MP told reporters in Parliament.

BTN assistant director Hamim Husan, during a recent closed-door Puteri Umno function, referred to the Chinese and Indian communities as “Si Mata Sepet” and “Si Botol” respectively when asking Puteri Umno members to approach the non-Malays for votes.

“The ‘si mata sepet’ that has never gone to a mosque or surau only has one vote. The ‘si botol’ that only knows how to go up to Batu Caves up and down only has one vote,” Hamim told the closed-door gathering, as reported in The Malaysian Insider.

Siti Inshah Mansor, the principal of SMK Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, had allegedly told students during an assembly that the Chinese could return the China and likened Hindus to “dogs” because of their prayer strings.

“Pelajar-pelajar Cina tidak diperlukan dan boleh balik ke China ataupun Sekolah Foon Yew. Bagi pelajar India, tali sembahyang yang diikat di pergelangan tangan dan leher pelajar nampak seakan anjing dan hanya anjing akan mengikat seperti itu,” she had allegedly said.

Following the public uproar over her controversial statement, about 20 police reports were lodged against the principal.

In the Kedah case, Ungku Aznan Ungku Ismail, the school principal for SMK Bukit Selambau in Sungai Petani, caused a national outcry when he allegedly uttered racial slurs to his non-Malay students.

Ungku Aznan had allegedly publicly told several Chinese students to go back to China for “behaving disrespectfully” when they were seen having breakfast in the school canteen during the Ramadan fasting month.

He later escaped stern punishment when he was reassigned to an office in the district education office at Kuala Muda in Sungai Petani, shortly after the incident, drawing flak from many political leaders.

Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin recently said he had no authority to take any action against the principals, and had allowed them to continue their duties.

Muhyiddin claimed that this was because disciplinary matters involving high-ranking civil servants come under the jurisdiction of the Public Service Department (PSD).

The deputy prime minister then said that only the PSD had the power to decide on the case.

Earlier this month, PSD director-general Datuk Seri Abu Bakar Abdullah told a press conference in Putrajaya that the department had already received a “six-inch thick” report from the Education Ministry on the matter.

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8 Replies to “DAP wants chief secretary hauled up for inaction against ‘racist’ civil servants”

  1. Can the public know if the Chief Secretary is also an ostrich like Koh Tsu Koon? You know, see no evil, tell no evil, do no evil. Or, better still, just put yr head beneath the sand and go to sleep like Pak Lah. If the ex-PM can do it, then it’s a good enough model for the Chief Secretary.

    So Malayisa can also be aka Slumberland.

  2. Racism is what helps BN, especially UMNO, to stay in power. That is why there is no action taken against any racist from BN! If the same words were ever uttered by anyone from the opposite camp, immediate action would have been taken! So much for “MASYARAKAT YANG ADIL” as proclaimed by the RUKUNEGARA, a tattered piece of paper purportedly providing all Malaysians with basic rights which had been around for 40 years!!!!!

  3. Endangered Hornbill,the Chief Secretary is certainly not acting like an ostrich and neither has become a devout Bhuddist who sees no devil,hears no evil and does no evil.By not doing anything by way of punishment to the 2 principals he is making a loud statement to everybody that the actions of the 2 principal is not punishable when uttered by a Malay principal to non Malay pupils,and he is also fully confident his Education Minister would also be supportive to his line of thinking!

  4. Another way of saying no is just by keeping quiet. Everyone knows why because of political support esp during elections. Probably they have received warning letters. But if they are senior enough, they will be promoted so that they will be transferred and so that it will end the scandal. It is a difficult job for the Chief Secretary because if he takes action on one, he has to take action on others. All the 1.2 million public servants throughout Malaysia are less than perfect. You find similar cases which need action. So he cannot be firing 10000 civil servants at one time. If he can, imagine what will happen next ? The civil service is not like your private company. 1.2 million civil servants is a lot and you do not just take action without thinking of others. Some civil servants are good and so it is not right if they have to pay for their colleagues’ mistakes. It is those handful of rotten apples who somehow still stay on the shelf, secured and safe, and still rotting away. Mad or what ? Talk about being excellent. Excellent for all the wrong reasons.

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