A letter directing Tawau schools to categorize teachers according to their political leanings was an isolated incident, according to the Education Ministry.
KUALA LUMPUR: A directive that allegedly classified school teachers in Tawau according to their political leanings was an isolated incident caused by the district education department, the Education Ministry said.
Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong said that if in fact the government had issued such an order, all the schools in Sabah would have gotten them.
“So far there is no such directive from the Education Ministry. It is to my rude shock that (the) Tawau (education department) issued such questionnaires.”
“I wonder why there was only this one education office that issued such a directive…It was not applicable to other districts. If this (was sent) from the ministry, it must be applicable in all districts,” the Ayer Hitam MP told reporters at Parliament lobby.
Wee added that he had forwarded a complaint to the ministry’s director-general as soon as he heard about the issue from Tawau MP (SAPP) Chua Boon Sui.
He also said that at this point, the ministry was waiting for a full report from the state’s education department.
Last week, an anti-Umno blog known as Ameno World released a copy of an official letter issued by Tawau district officer Darman Shah Asakil.
In his letter, Darman allegedly told principals in the district to classify teachers into three categories: White, Grey and Black.
Tawau teachers labeled
Teachers who were supportive of government policies or friendly to BN would be labeled as “White”.
Those who criticised government policies and had a soft spot for the opposition were to be classified as “Grey”.
Teachers who were members of opposition parties and were seen trying to get other teachers to question the government’s policies were to be categorised as “Black”.
Darman did not explain why it was necessary for principals to do this. He also warned them that the exercise was under the Official Secrets Act.
He later apologised for this action, and claimed that he was not instructed by anyone to send out this letter.
It might not be an official order from the Ministry of Education, only from the district ministry. Hopefully no similar incidents will happen next.
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