Pua says DPM’s silence on principal proves disrespect for 1 Malaysia
By Clara Chooi, The Malaysian Insider
PETALING JAYA, Aug 19 — DAP leader Tony Pua chided Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today for again displaying his lack of commitment to the 1 Malaysia concept in failing to punish a Johor school principal for making racial remarks.
The DAP national publicity secretary said Muhyiddin had instead chosen to remain “elegantly” silent on the issue, thus proving once again his own prejudice against 1 Malaysia.
“Muhyiddin is again proving to fail 1 Malaysia with inept handling of the racist remarks by the principal of SMK Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra.
“When Siti Inshah Mansor was alleged to have uttered completely racist statements during school assembly to young Malaysian students a week ago on August 12, Muhyiddin, who is also the Education Minister, chose to remain elegantly silent on the matter of utmost national importance.
“By choosing to remain silent, Muhyiddin has again demonstrated his reluctance in endorsing the 1 Malaysia concept beyond just paying it lip service,” he said in a statement today.
Pua (picture) also slammed Muhyiddin for failing to reprimand Education director-general Tan Sri Alimudin Dom for declaring the issue resolved, claiming that the latter’s words further debased 1 Malaysia.
“The 1 Malaysia concept was further debased when Alimudin told the press yesterday that ‘there is no change, the issue was only a misunderstanding and the problem has been solved between the principal and students’, indicating also that the principal would not even be transferred as punishment.
“Malaysians fail to see how the uttering of such a crude and completely insensitive statement could be caused by any ‘misunderstanding’, and see the action by the Education Ministry as a complete cover up and an attempt to sweep the matter under the carpet,” he said.
Pua called on Muhyiddin to follow a suggestion made by Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin on micro-blogging site Twitter yesterday and immediately take stern action against Siti Inshah.
He noted that Deputy Education Minister Datuk Wee Ka Siong himself had claimed on Twitter that the principal had already apologised to her students, indicating that the allegations against her were true.
