DAP and Hindraf want the SMK George Town teacher to be charged with Sedition for allegedly hurling racist remarks at her students.

 

GEORGE TOWN: Charging the SMK George Town teacher, who allegedly hurled racist remarks at her students, with sedition would serve as a lesson for others, said DAP national chairman Karpal Singh.

Noting that Malaysian Indians have been frequently subjected to racist slurs in the recent past, the he said it was time for the authorities to put a stop to it.

“Enough is enough. It’s time the attorney-general brings to action. For a start, charge this teacher in court … it is sedition.

“If the government can charge opposition leaders for sedition, I can’t see why this teacher should be spared,” he told reporters here today.

The secondary school comes under his Bukit Gelugor parliamentary constituency.

The state education department claimed that the teacher Sabariah Ramli, 29, had requested for an immediate transfer to another school.

She apparently made the request on grounds that she could not face the same students, who accused her of uttering “Hindu Pariah” at them.

The alleged incident took place in the Form Five “Tabah” classroom after an examination on May 9.

Karpal said the transfer exercise cannot be an ideal end to the ugly episode, chiding it as “only a slap on the wrist.”

“Calling the Indian students ‘pariah’ is a serious matter. I don’t see how a transfer can erase the statement made,” he said.

He insisted that the teacher should be charged under the Sedition Act 1948 to serve as a deterrent.

“Otherwise, this virus will cause disunity among Malaysians,” he cautioned.

Hindraf calls for sedition charge as well

Hindraf supremo P Waythamoorthy called on the police to expedite their investigations and charge the teacher with sedition as well if the students’ complaints against her were true.

He said she should be charged for using words with seditious tendencies, notwithstanding whether she used the term “Hindu Pariah” or “India.”

Although affected students lodged official complaints that Sabariah called them “Hindu Pariah”, the state education department claimed she had only uttered the word “India.”

Waythamoorthy asked why the teacher needed to address the students using the word “India” when she could have easily addressed them by their names or as “murid-murid” (students).

“Be it India or Hindu Pariah, both have the connotations of racism.

“She is a racist and not fit to be in the teaching profession. She should be charged. She should be suspended immediately pending investigations,” the human rights lawyer told FMT.

He said Sections 2, 3 & 4 of the Sedition Act defined that seditious words include any phrase, sentence or other consecutive number or combination of words, oral or written with a seditious tendency.

Under the law, Waythamoorthy said the teacher’s racist remark was a serious issue and “not a small matter” as described by education officials.

However, he was not surprised by the official apathy simply because “they were products of Umno.”