Assailed National Union of the Teaching Profession secretary-general N Siva Subramaniam was dealt another blow today when a former NUTP leader said he should resign for concocting problems which do not exist.

After making such outlandish claims, the decent thing for him to do is apologise and resign from his post but that would require a brave man to do so, said NUTP former secretary-general A Rajaguru.

Rajaguru also described Siva — who courted controversy when he alleged that national schools were practising racial segregation — as someone who generalises and sensationalises issues.

The issue is normally blown out proportion and presented as a national malaise in the [teaching] profession.

This is how he always remains in the headlines — simply because no one has called his bluff, he said in a caustic statement.

The issue of racial segregation in schools first surfaced late last year when parents of several students from a school in Selangor complained that their children who qualified among the top five in their classes were relegated to the second class.

Following this, Siva submitted a list of 210 schools which allegedly practised racial streaming to the Education Ministry. This prompted the ministry to set up an independent committee to probe the charge.

Last Thursday, the committee said it found that the practice of racial segregation was minimal and not deliberate.

The committee explained that there were classes composed of students from one particular racial group but this was due to inconsistencies in planning class time-tables and the low number of non-Malay Malaysian students in those schools

The committee also said the problems would not have surfaced if the accusations had been made via Parent-Teacher Associations and not the NUTP.

No apology

The findings landed Siva in the crosshairs of various quarters who urged the union leader to apologise for making the baseless allegation.

However, Siva has remained defiant and claimed he was targeted for raising the issue and not wanting to bow down to pressure.

He also said he would seek a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to explain his side of the story.

Continuing his verbal salvo, Rajaguru said: Nobody is telling Siva not to speak up or even kowtow. All that is expected of him is to speak the truth and shame the devil but this he has failed to do.

He has concocted a problem that does not exist and has in the process created a problem for himself , said the former union leader.

Rajaguru also questioned Sivas method of carrying out his survey on racial streaming in schools which he claimed has been in practice for more than 10 years.

I am a member of the NUTP but I am not aware of this survey. It was not carried in the unions official publication, Guru Malaysia and it was not addressed at any of the delegates conference over the past years

Was he waiting for an opportune time to capitalise on it?, asked Rajaguru.