National schools – for racial integration or disintegration? - Ravinder Singh The PTA Chairman and the school authorities of SK Seri Pristana are probably happy that the “problems” caused to the school by about 1.5 percent of the school’s non-Muslim students are on the way to being solved for good. The child whose mother had blown the whistle and who had been harassed, ridiculed, shamed, ostracised, by teachers and pupils alike, has left the school, not to enter another National school but a vernacular school. Others may follow suit, and solve the schools problems with them. This incident reverberates throughout the country. So are the non-Malays to be blamed for shunning National schools?So much for all the drama about racial integration through a single school – the National school, system. This incident has laid bare the empty talk and visions of creating a society that is brought together through a common school to be attended by all regardless of race and religion. Why are the proponents of a single school system silent and letting the non-Muslim students in the National schools to be discriminated against in such humiliating ways. Remember the Perkasa President giving Chinese New Year ang-pows in white envelopes and then claiming innocence for not knowing the customs of the Chinese?These are not “innocent mistakes” that the perpetrators of these racist acts want us to believe. They are deliberate and calculated to humiliate, to hurt. They are meant to show the supremacy of those carrying out the acts.Where are the voices of the non-Muslims in the Barisan Nasional (BN)? Their silence means to say that they condone the actions of the PTA and school authorities of SK Seri Pristana. If this is not so, then they should see to it that the non-Muslim students of this school are not harassed out of the school. To stop the harassment of the non-Muslim students (which is child abuse and also a violation of the rights of the child), some heads should have to roll. Is there some unwritten rule or understanding between the BN partners that no disciplinary action will be taken against certain people no matter what they do?Where is accountability? Could the deputy education minister who so quickly pronounced “problem solved” tell us what is the capacity of the school canteen?Did the JKR build a canteen that was too small for the full enrolment of the school? How many of the “facts” told to him by the school authorities were actually lies? If lies were told (the minister himself had acknowledged that there were no renovations to the canteen since March, but only a door replacement), does he coolly accept lies being told to him and sweep them under the carpet? Supposing this had happened to Muslim children in non-National schools, (remember, today there are Malay children in Chinese vernacular schools). If the minority Malay children had been told to hide themselves in similar “changing rooms” or “washroom” while the Chinese students ate in the canteen, would the education ministry just say that what the school did was in the best interest of the Malay children?Wouldn’t some heads in the Chinese schools roll? Maybe within 24 hours! “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”. Does this apply selectively? Is that what was taught by the prophets?
Posted on: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 00:42:52 +0000
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