Hindraf: Charge teacher with sedition

Whether it was 'India' or 'Hindu Pariah, Hindraf's P Waythamoorthy says the teacher at SMK George Town crossed the line.

GEORGE TOWN: Hindraf Makkal Sakti said today that the SMK George Town teacher, who allegedly hurled racist remarks at her students, should be charged with sedition.

Hindraf supremo P Waythamoorthy called on the police to expedite their investigations and charge the teacher under the Sedition Act 1948 if the students’ complaints against her were true.

He said she should be charged for using words with seditious tendencies, notwithstanding whether she used the term “Hindu Pariah” or “India.”

Although affected students lodged official complaints that Sabariah Ramli, 29, called them “Hindu Pariah”, the state education department claimed she had only uttered the word “India.”

The alleged incident took place in the Form Five “Tabah” classroom after an examination on May 9.

Waythamoorthy asked why the teacher needed to address the students using the word “India” when she could have easily addressed them by their names or as “murid-murid” (students).

“Be it India or Hindu Pariah, both have the connotations of racism.

“She is a racist and not fit to be in the teaching profession. She should be charged. She should be suspended immediately pending investigations,” the human rights lawyer told FMT.

He said Sections 2, 3 & 4 of the Sedition Act defined that seditious words include any phrase, sentence or other consecutive number or combination of words, oral or written with a seditious tendency.

Under the law, Waythamoorthy said the teacher’s racist remark was a serious issue and “not a small matter” as described by education officials.

However, he was not surprised by the official apathy simply because “they were products of Umno.”