PM must step in if DPM can't solve racist headmistresses fiasco

Najib and Muhyiddin

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

Prime Minister Najib Razak should intervene to stem mounting public indignation over his deputy’s persistent refusal to come clean on two school principals caught hurling racial slurs against their Chinese and Indian pupils.

“It cannot go on like this. Surely, there must be an outcome. If Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin continues to procrastinate, the feelings of unfairness and racial discrimination will only get stronger. Someone has to take responsibility. If Muhyiddin can't do it, then he must pass the buck to Najib and let's take it from there,” PKR vice president Lee Boon Chye told Malaysia Chronicle.

Injecting the Namewee complication

Namewee - 'kurang ajar', not racist

More than a month has passed since Johor headmistress Siti Inshah Mansor said in a speech at her school that the Chinese pupils could go back to China and also likened the Indians to dogs. A few days later, another Malay headmistress in Kedah made similar remarks.

Both women have apologized to the parents of the pupils but there is public insistence for stiffer punishment. Demotion or even sacking and prosecution under the Sedition Act have been among the multitude of suggestions offered, given that both women were senior educators and expected to uphold multiracial unity rather than spread racism.

“I will leave it entirely up to the enforcement authority to enforce under whatever law. I believe there are available enforcement instruments that can be used - under whatever law,” was all Muhyiddin would say as he sidestepped reporters who chased after him for an update on Saturday.

Muhyiddin, who is also Education minister, may have brought the latest trouble onto himself because he has been leading an attack against controversial rapper Namewee that many Malaysians perceive as unfair and politically motivated.

Pundits have accused the DPM of intentionally creating the brouhaha to deflect pressure from his ministry to act against the two principals. Apart from not wanting to offend the mostly Malay teaching community, which is a traditional electorate for his Umno party, Muhyiddin has also been keen to portray himself as a champion of Malay rights.

The DPM and other Umno leaders including Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin have accused Namewee of being racist towards the Malays in his three-minute 'Nah' video clip. The rapper had made the clip specially to slam the two racist teachers but found himself being accused of racism instead.

Punishment seems certain, even jail

Fortunately for him, not all Malays shared Muhyiddin's or Umno’s views.

“Namewee’s video is kurang ajar (uncouth), but I think the video would not have been out if swift actions had been taken against Siti Inshah and without racial provocation,” said PAS Youth chief Nasruddin Tantawi.

Irwan charged for satire on his own blog

Meanwhile, Namewee has been grilled for long hours by both the police and the Internet regulator Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission. He has previously said he fears he will be arrested soon.

A few days ago, in an early crackdown on the Internet that is expected to intensify as the next general election nears, a blogger Irwan Abdul Rahman was charged for posting an article that satirized energy firm Tenaga Nasional Bhd.

Irwan's prosecution underscores Malaysia's increasingly authoritarian regime as Najib's ruling coalition pulls out all stops to maintain its 53-year monopoly on power and keep at bay Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's Pakatan Rakyat.

The 36-year old Irwan was charged under Section 233 (1)(a) of Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for improper use of network facilities or network service by making, creating, soliciting and initiating transmission of any content that is obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character with malicious intent. If convicted, he can be fined up to RM 50,000 or face a jail term of up to a year or both. He was released on bail of RM4,000.