Muhyiddin says outside his power to punish racist principals

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? IMAGINE NAMEWEE COULD BE MADE TO REPORT AT THE POLICE STATION, JUST BECAUSE UMNO MADE A REPORT.

WHY UMNO OR MUHYIDDIN DOES NOT WANT TO MAKE A POLICE REPORT AND ORDER THE POLICE TO ARREST AND PROSECUTE THE PRINCIPALS WHO MADE SEDITIOUS REMARKS FOR WHICH THEY HAVE OPENLY ADMITTED TO HAVE SAID ?

Muhyiddin

Malaysia Chronicle

Amid accusations he was trying to make himself a hero to the Malays, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyddin Yassin is sticking to his guns and refusing to punish two school principals for allegedly hurling racial slurs at their non-Malay pupils.

“Umno’s life-span depends entirely on the few pockets of remnant Malay support in rural villages. It is in a Catch-22 situation and like the proverb goes, to swallow mother dies to spit out father dies. For it to regain the confidence of non-Malay voters is now almost impossible and this is why it keeps harping on ketuanan Melayu and Malay supremacy and also why it continues to maintain ties with Perkasa,” Bukit Gantang MP Nizar Jamaluddin told Malaysia Chronicle.

Bad example

Nearly two months have passed but no action has been taken against the two teachers. According to Muhyiddin, he did not have the authority to decide because these were both senior government officials.

Nizar Jamaluddin

“The minister cannot make any decision on government officers with the pay grade of 48 and above, I believe principals are grade 52. For officers of such a grade only the disciplinary board of the Public Services Department headed by the director-general can take action,” Muhyiddin, who is also Education minister, told reporters on Thursday.

In early August, Siti Inshah Mansor the headmistress at a Kulai school had told her Chinese pupils to go back to China and likened the Indian ones to dogs. A few days later, Ungku Aznan Ungku Ismail who heads a school in Bukit Selambau, Kedah made similar remarks about his Chinese pupils.

Malay first

The incidents raised a national uproar and fingers were pointed at Muhyiddin for setting a bad example. The Pagoh MP had himself stirred uneasiness when he declared he was Malay first and then Malaysian next. His statement was taken to suggest that Umno would not be dropping its long-held ketuanan Melayu or Malay supremacy policies any time soon despite a 1Malaysia plan launched by Najib to unify the races.

Pundits also blamed several factors for the rising racism in Malaysia including the courses run by the National Civics Bureau that aimed to indoctrinate public servants and university students into an apartheid state of mind so that Umno could maintain its grip on its core Malay voter base.

“It's the PSD’s jurisdiction. I have already announced this so just wait for whatever decisions they want to make,” said Muhyiddin.

But the Star had reported on Sept 4 that the PSD has received a 16cm-thick report from the ministry and are mulling over what decision to take.