A teacher in Sabah said she received threats to her safety and her car tyres were slashed after she raised the issue of a colleague's repeated truancy.
Nurhaiza Ejab, 37, who was a teacher at SMK Taun Gusi at the time, testified that her colleagues cautioned her against "smearing the school's reputation" by complaining over the absenteeism of English teacher Mohd Jainal Jamran to the Kota Belud district education officer.
Responding to federal counsel Fazriel Fardiansyah during trial on Tuesday, she also confirmed that she earlier testified her tyres were slashed in 2015 and she lodged a police report over the matter.
Fazriel was referring to her testimony in November when she said she was "intimidated" by the Language Department head Norhana Idek, and another teacher, Awang Erawan, if she spoke up over Jainal's truancy.
"I was humiliated, scolded, blamed, scapegoated and threatened two times to death, and my car tyres were slashed a few days right after the death threat," she told judge Leonard David Shim at the Kota Kinabalu High Court on Nov 25.
She said her complaints and report also fell on deaf ears in 2015, so when the issue recurred with the same teacher in 2017, she took a different strategy.
This included making 80 time-stamped video recordings of the class, at times when Jainal was supposed to be teaching but was absent, she said.
The teacher was the tenth witness in a civil suit by three former SMK Taun Gusi, Kota Belud students - Rusiah Sabdarin, Nur Natasha Allisya Hamali and Calvina Angayung.
They named their Form 4 English teacher Jainal, the school principal Suid Hanapi, the education director-general, the education minister and the government as defendants.
The trio said Jainal did not turn up to teach for several months in 2017, while the other defendants did not take reasonable action despite being notified of his absence.
This is the second lawsuit filed by students against the same defendants.
The first was filed by former SMK Taun Gusi student Siti Nafirah Siman in 2018, while the second case was filed in 2020.
Siti Nafirah's case refers to Jainal's alleged truancy in 2015.
On Tuesday (Jan 10), the federal counsel was establishing that the threats happened in 2015, to differentiate it from the second suit, which pertains to incidents in 2017.
Court transcripts and notices of proceedings were supplied to Malaysiakini by the advocacy group Tiada Guru, which is championing the plaintiffs' cause.
Teacher confirms two months' absence
Meanwhile, the first defendant Jainal also testified on Tuesday and Wednesday (Jan 11).
He said besides being an English teacher, he had other duties including being the school basketball coach, being in charge of the school cooperative and examinations data as well as the district bowling player for ‘Karnival Persatuan Sukan dan Kebudayaan Perkhidmatan Pelajaran’.
As such, he may be absent from class to attend to other duties, he testified.
Jainal also confirmed that based on the state education department's documentation, he was absent from English lessons at the plaintiff's class for 11 times in August 2017 and another 11 times the next month.
This amounts to all English lessons for the plaintiff's class in those months, while he testified he was in school at all for two of those days.
He also agreed that based on the state education department's documents, he was also absent on July 6, 17 and 20, 2017, but contended the documents were prepared after he had transferred to SMK Taun Gusi 2.
Jainal, however, denied the plaintiff's claim that he had provided them with "leaked exam questions" for the 2017 English final examination.
Instead, he said, they were "spot questions".
'No action because only student complained'
Also testifying on Wednesday was the second defendant, school principal Suid Hanapi, who has since retired from the role.
He testified about receiving a complaint of Jainal's truancy in November 2017.
"It was close to the end of the school year but I instructed the language department head to replace Jainal from January to December 2018," he testified.
Asked why there was no other action taken against Jainal, Suid said there was no formal report against Jainal other than a complaint from a student.
He also said the students likely did not take the matter very seriously because they complained late in the term.
Suid also denied he had knowledge of Jainal's repeated truancy, despite confirming he received a complaint from a student.
The defendant's final witness, the school's language department head Norhana agreed with the retired principal that the complaint was too late in the year.
However, she also agreed with the plaintiffs' lawyer Sherzali Asli that the issue of Jainal's absenteeism was known even before 2017.
Submission is scheduled for March 27. - Mkini
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