The blatant act of politicising flood with racist slur of Madani gov’t “favouring the Chinese”

A MADANI government backer has hit out at an opposition-slant ex-teacher for insinuating that the Education Ministry (MOE) would have deferred the on-going SPM examinations (Dec 2 to Feb 6, 2025) for the benefit of candidates in flood-hit states “had the flood victims made up of the Chinese instead”.

The ex-teacher Mohd Fadli Salleh who is also a social media influencer had in a recent Facebook comment suggested that the MOE hesitated to postpone the public examination because “the victims are Malays”.

“SPM was postponed in 1998 due to flood, 1999 to make way for the general election, 2001 as a mark of respect in view of the Agong’s demise. But no postponement for 2024 because the flood victims are Malays.

“But confirm postpone if the Chinee are affected. History has proven this.”

In another social media post, the Pasir Puteh, Kelantan-born Fadli who is also an author again directed his furore at the MOE by claiming that “if Type C requests for postponement, the request will certainly be granted even if only 10 pupils were affected”.

“But at a time even when thousands of Malays have requested for postponement, the MOE stands firm on its decision. Congratulations Fadhlina Sidek, the best Education Minister that Malaysia ever had. Congratulations MOE for being the best Education Ministry in the world.”

Commenting on Fadhli’s racist rant, the pro-Pakatan Harapan (PH) Najib Bakar (@najib_bakar) remarked that he usually would not comment if the matter involves an influencer whom he deems as “a mutual friend”.

“But when the person starts playing the race card, I think he has gone overboard,” he penned on his X account.

“Many people know that I have family in Rantau Panjang, Kelantan who is also enduring devastation from flooding. Hence, I really understand the plight of those going through this calamity. Don’t say I don’t feel sorry for the people who are affected by the floods.”

While he personally agreed with Fadli that the SPM examination “could have been delayed for a few days”, Najib said it is unjust for the latter to resort to playing race card given that he is an influencer with substantial number of followers.

Referring to a 2017 news clip, Najib contended that SPM went on as usual despite the flood situation in Penang and Kedah.

“People always associate Penang with many Chinese pupils but the MOE back then decided to forge ahead with the SPM examination,” recalled Najib who is also the corporate communications head at the Economy Ministry.

“Even when Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin was the education minister (during the Perikatan Nasional administration), SPM was never postponed despite the floods.”

At the end of the day, Najib justified that the MOE has a specific SOP (standard operating procedure) in place to determine whether to proceed ort postpone the SOM examination.

“As such, I wish to ask Cikgu Fadli which part of history that has been proven right?” asked Najib with one commenter tagging the police to investigate the former teacher on grounds of 3R (race, religion, royalty) breaches. 

- Focus Malaysia