Blogger defends HM in shower room imbroglio

Following the uproar over photographs that showed non-Muslim pupils eating in a shower room, a blogger visited SK Seri Pristana in Sungai Buloh and says the situation is not how it has been made out to be.

The blogger also published a photograph showing the school's Muslim teachers using the same room to break fast.

According to the Y1M Checkmate blog, the school's canteen could not accommodate the 350 pupils who had their recess at the same time.

Due to this, the blogger said, the pupils were forced to sit outside the canteen to have their meals.

"The headmaster who saw this decided to use one of the changing rooms, located a few metres from the canteen.

"This changing room is equipped with chairs and tables; and has been operating since March 2013 and not recently as claimed by some blogs," he writes.

The blogger said the headmaster took this initiative so that his pupils would not have to sit in the afternoon heat when having their meals. 

"Until the beginning of Ramadan, all students, including Malays, were using this room as their 'canteen'. There is no... I repeat no toilet located near the changing room. 

"There is no toilet located within a 30 metre radius. There are only two changing rooms for males and females respectively located side by side," he says.

Malaysiakini is not able to verify the authenticity of the claims in this blog and we are in the process of obtaining more information from the relevant authorities and concerned parties.

The emergence of pictures of the childrenn eating in the changing room/shower invoked a firestorm of protests, with netizens accusing the school of authorities of being racist.

MIC and NGO leaders also called for stern action while the Education Ministry promised to launch an investigation.

The school's headmaster denied the claim.

S Yogendran, the special officer to Deputy Education Minister II P Kamalanathan, said SK Seri Pristana's headmaster had informed him that the canteen was not large enough to accommodate all the pupils.

However, Yogendran did not explain why the canteen was not used during the fasting month now, despite space availability.

Kamalanathan is expected to visit the school later this afternoon.