DPM flayed over racist slurs: If you don't want to act, just say so

Muhyiddin - mocking 1Malaysia

Malaysia Chronicle

Pakatan Rakyat leaders continued to condemn Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin for refusing to take action against two school principals, accusing him of hypocrisy and insulting the people’s intelligence.

“If you don’t want to act, just say so. Don’t insult our intelligence by saying he has no power,” Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng told a press conference.

“As DPM and education minister, of course he has the power to act against the principal; if he says he cannot, he does not respect his positions. And if he cannot act even against a school headmaster, what kind of DPM or education minister is he?”

Racial bias

Lim Guan Eng

Muhyiddin, already accused of racial bias towards his own community, drew fresh fire for saying only the Public Services Department had the authority to decide on what penalty to slap on a headmistress in Kulai, Johor and her male counterpart in Bukit Selambau, Kedah.

Both had told their Chinese pupils to go back to China, while the Johor principal even likened her Indian students to dogs.

“Muhhyddin's ‘confession’ will open the floodgate and cause the Little Napoleons among the civil service to be more unruly and beyond control. This is both incredible and ridiculous," Taiping MP Nga Kor Ming toldMalaysia Chronicle.

"By condoning such malpractices and breach of discipline, the BN is cultivating ‘civil service mafia’ among the 1,240,000 strong civil service force. At the end of the day, the public will be the ones who will suffer from such incompetent administration."

Urgent motion in Parliament

Nearly two months have passed but no action has been taken against the two teachers so far although on September 4, the PSD had received a 16cm-thick report from the Education ministry.

The delay has prompted DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang to warn the Pakatan Rakyat would file an urgent parliamentary motion to demand a full debate.

Lim Kit Siang

“The Prime Miinister had himself declared a policy of “Zero Tolerance for Racism” two weeks after the nation-wide uproar over the racist slurs by the two school principals but unfortunately the Najib administration is showing an enormous capacity for racism as 45 days have passed since the first incident of a school principal making racist slurs against students in schools without any sign of meaningful action being taken to effectively check the rise of racist bigotry and religious extremism in the 18 months of Najib’s premiership,” said DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang in a statement.

“Let me serve notice that if no satisfactory action to honour Najib’s declaration of “Zero tolerance for racism” is taken, particularly in the public service with commensurate penalty meted out to the two school principals who made the racist slurs, Pakatan Rakyat will move an urgent motion in the first day of Parliament when it reconvenes on Oct. 11 for the 2011 budget session to demand a full debate.”