The lack of urgency and transparency on the part of the Education Ministry in releasing the full report by the Independent Committee on Segregation in schools has raised serious doubts as to the credibility of both the committee and the report.

This is especially so in the face of the National Union of the Teaching Professions (NUTP) memorandum to the ministry on racial segregation in schools, which contained copies of letters and e-mail sent by parents, teachers and guardians which cast doubts on the findings by the committee.

The memorandum was rushed to the Education Ministry late last year after it was given a one-week notice to prove its allegations of racial-streaming in the countrys schools.

The complaints include the naming of classes using racial slurs such as 4K which is known as 4Keling (Keling, in Malay, is a derogatory word for Indians), racial streaming justified as the ministrys directive, and blatant discrimination in the award of prizes for educational excellence.

A number of parents, guardians and teachers have complained that they were given various justifications, ranging from state education department directives to instructions from the top without naming the directing authority.

Excerpts

Below are excerpts of some complaints by irate parents/guardians from all over the country showing the range and gravity of racial streaming in schools:

  • My friends daughter is placed in the second class although she came within the first 10 positions in the end of year examination in 2000. Several Chinese children who scored within the first three were also not given the chance to be promoted to Std 5 top class... only reserved for Malay pupils even though they didnt perform well.

  • Although both my children are always in the top 10 list in class, they have never been in the first class at all, simply because of the categorisation of the Moral and Agama (religious) classes.

  • A number of teachers in Selangor cannot agree more with you because I was in one of those schools where racial quota was practised. When we queried, we were told that Jabatan Pendidikan Selangor (Selangor education department) had given the directive.

    The first classes of each form are reserved for bumiputra and the non-bumiputra are filled in the second class onwards. Students have come to us asking why even with 5As in the UPSR, they do not qualify to be in the best class?

  • I have encountered (this problem) with my niece going to Std 1 this year in SRK Lembah Jaya where the teacher said all Indians are to go to the Matahari class in which you see all are Indonesian pupils.

    This is not fair at all, so my sister decided that a Tamil school will be a better place but some stayed back... I think it is unfair to treat our pupils like dirt.

  • We, as parents, have done our part. We had complained to the highest level but nobody seemed to be interested... Therefore, I am sending you copies of (our) letters again to prove that the ministry knew all these dirty tricks long ago.

  • ... Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungei Besi has been enforcing racial segregation since the 1990s. This has happened to my three daughters who have been outstanding by producing good results (1st or 2nd in class) yet they were placed in either second or third class. The explanation when approached is that it could be a burden to conduct Moral or Agama classes.

  • Most schools (in Muar) conduct tuition classes (tuisyen kampung) meant for bumiputra students only with funds coming from the menteri besar.

  • A separate class has been running at Sek Men Keb Mantin using the name Mujahidin since 1999. As of end December 2001, there are classes called 1 Mujahidin, 2 Mujahidin and 3 Mujahidin, all of them Malay/Muslim pupils.

    • Recent letter

    An informed source said that in a school in Perak, instead of meeting with parents/complainants individually, the committee members had met them with the Parent-Teacher Association chairperson, school principal and district education officer all sitting together.

    More recently, a letter was sent to the Education Ministry, with copies to the prime minister, deputy prime minister, the National Unity and Social Development Ministry, the committee, the NUTP and the education director-general.

    The letter, signed by Ibubapa yang prihatin, accused a primary school headmaster in Kuala Terengganu of deceiving the committee during a visit there by tampering with the class register, where all the non-Malay pupils were moved from an inferior class to the top class, prompting the parents short-lived joy which was witnessed by the committee.

    After they (committee members) left for Kuala Lumpur, the HM shifted them back to the original class, said the letter dated Feb 22, a copy of which was obtained by malaysiakini today.

    It was also learnt that five schools in Perak had lodged police reports against the NUTP and its secretary-general N Siva Subramaniam for inciting racial hatred but the state education departments sector management of school head Saharuddin Atan denied any knowledge of it when contacted today.

    The New Straits Times reported that five headmasters in Johor Bahru were planning to file defamation suit against the union and Siva within this week.

    One of the headmasters, Zamani Ahmad, is from Sek Keb Taman Perling, JB, which was on the NUTP list of schools practising racial streaming.

    The schools enrolment record for year 2000, with a racial breakdown, shows that not a single non-Malay pupil was placed in any of the top classes for each level, but the Johor education director was reported to have denied such a practice.