Update (12.45pm): According to The J-Star, all three stalls – as can be seen in the photo below – are for showering. However the paper’s floor plan diagram puts the toilet beside the “changing room-canteen”.
Update (5.45am): Malay men having some kind of berbuka puasa (looks like) in the same Seri Pristana ‘canteen’.
With this revelation, I hope that the Dapsters bashing the Malays will ease off a bit on the race factor.
1. Blogger Dhanyaraam who visited Sekolah Kebangsaan Pristana yesterday reported that until the start of fasting month, Malay pupils had also been using the shower room as their ‘canteen’ as well.
2. The rooms marked tandas-tandas are the left and right in the photograph below which is uploaded in Dhanyaraam’s blog entry, ‘Canteen In Changing Room , FACTS That You Should Know‘.
In the viral photos circulated yesterday, we had seen the interior of the left-side room – the one with the shower(s) – HERE.
It is where the Indian pupils were eating during recess.
3. In the photos Facebooked by a parent of one of the affected pupils, the door of one shower cubicle could be seen ajar. The doors of two other cubicles were closed and we can’t ascertain from the photos whether those cubicles contained showers or flush toilets.
The room on the right (in Dhanyaraam’s blog photo above) looks like where the Muslim children ambil wuduk.
Speaker Hannah Yeoh membatu api
4. Dhanyaraam says the school PTA is aware of the temporary arrangement, since March, of having the Seri Pristana pupils eat in the ‘tandas’.
5. Unfortunately this piece of news is so sensational that the opposition is having a field day fanning sentiments to kenakan MIC Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan.
Against the backdrop of our escalating race and religious tensions, this confrontational approach is potentially explosive.
6. True to form, politicians who love exploiting sensitive issues like the Speaker of Selangor have already capitalized on the opportunity (see Hannah Yeoh’s tweet on the school, below).
Canteen arrangement during puasa month
7. According to the blogger Dhanyaraam, the school principal had explained the reason for the eating tables and chairs being placed there, i.e. due to the water supply (wash basins) facility.
While the principal Mohamad Nasir Mohd Nor has shed some light on the inexplicable use of the ‘tandas’ as a makeshift dining area, another question still hangs in the air.
As Dhanyaraam has rightly pointed out:
Why did SK Seri Pristana close its canteen during Ramadan? Don’t the non-Muslim pupils need to eat?
Or in other words, the canteen should have been kept open for the sprinkling of non-Muslim pupils even if the regular Muslim food caterers are not operating throughout the fasting period.
Instead the canteen was cordoned off — photo here.
8. Seri Pristina is a school with a big enrolment.
However in keeping with the salient feature of the Sekolah Kebangsaan nationwide, it has only a very, very small number of non-Malay students. Therein lies the root of the problem of the needs of the minorities casually shunted aside.
Check it out yourself
9. For the netizens abuzz with indignation or curiosity, Dhanyaraam makes a fair offer.
He blogged:
“If you guys are not satisfied, follow me tomorrow to the school. We can see it together. PIBG will be there as well. Email me if you are coming draam88@gmail.com“.
10. There will be a media circus in the school today for sure.
United against DAP SuperCyber Bullies
I had ‘met’ blogger Dhanyaraam earlier before when we both posted about Hannah Yeoh’s Twitter fib, see ‘Hannah Yeoh pun boleh buat silap mata Excel !!‘
Dhanyaraam had caught The J-Star manufactured media star Hannah Yeoh removing a tweet after she was outted fibbing by two other bloggers @jasmeenz and @seademon on the matter of a resident association meeting.
His screenshot below of Hannah’s Twitter timeline showing how she deleted her tweet after her fib was exposed by the bloggers.
Below: My screenshot of Hannah Yeoh’s yet another timeline where she had deleted a separate and different contentious tweet.
I hope more and more people will begin to realise that with Iguana Eng and his DAP evangelista coterie, these slippery methods are deeply ingrained in their lidah bercabang, biawak DNA.
Hence it comes as no surprise that these oppo pollies are such firm favourites with pro-DAP paper The Sneaky Star and among the Scissorrati.
RALAT: Spelling of name of school corrected (updated 10.10am)
Helen Ang 
Am glad that truth finally prevails. But very sad to read comments elsewhere.
Beware of the Indians migrant. That was said by none other than the esteemed Margaret Thatcher.
This indian woman must be sued by the Education Ministry.
so that other opposition members don pull the same trick of belittling the Government.
Sue the skirt of this indian woman!!!
Trust politicians to look for issues to fuel their political mileage.
BTW, how big is the changing room? Find it hard to believe the changing room can accommodate ALL students before the puasa month.
The “changing room” aka toilet (canteen wannabe) was accommodating the spillover pupils from the canteen, according to Dhanyaraam who spoke to the principal.
Spillover in Ramadan month?
You should learn how to read carefully.
In the article proper, it was already stated that the question “Why did SK Seri Pristina close its canteen during Ramadan?” begs an answer.
They said to repair a door and window so the whole canteen has to be closed?
The Education Ministry officials will descend on the school today. You can stay tuned to the breaking news. It’s a hot issue. Even The J-Star had it on front page.
He puts forward a good point. Certainly the school canteen will not be used by the Muslim students during the fasting month.
If there is any renovation planned it will be more proper to do it during the Raya school break.
AC-DC,
Yes. That’s why the school is not out of the woods yet.
The deep concern of the Indian community is indicated by the press coverage that the issue got. Saw the photo on the front pages of the various Tamil papers this morning!
No sign any renovation to the canteen when the media visited the school yesterday.
Mazidul said it was under renovation.
Btw, if the amount of non-muslim and muslim student who do not fast are small, I think it is more on the economic consideration of the canteen handler that the canteen is not open.
Methinks so too.
If that is the case, the non muslim students and the non fasting students can still use the canteen areas for dining. They might just have to take-out lunch from home.
Some news reports have mentioned the renovation to install the glass panels was done during the weekend, when there are no classes.
As the renovation goes, the side effect was, the dust. In the heat of the moment a lots of people forgeted that the dust can effect you health. If the canteens open up even when it still under construction, don’t you think the kids have to eat with the dust around them.
If it truely under construction, it need to closed up until the construction completed. And as a safety measure, we cannot simply doing the construction during the school session (that means weekday especially if it a two session school) coz it will effect the student concentration and it dangerous to the kids.
I am mooling on this actually because as a parents, I don’t want my kids go near a construction side until it complete and clean out.
:O sarah
Somehow installing glass windows during the weekend when classes are not in session is “construction”. According to the news reports, the renovation was already completed…
Yes, it true, but then, when you do “installing” window it also involving glasses. Glass mean safety hazard. Ignore one step in checking and cleaning it means danger to the student. It only take a small broken glasses to injured this kids.
By the way conrad, not all the construction was involving building somethings. There are small construction job, that means “installing” somethings but not involving in changing the structure or spaces (which some will also understand it as ronovation – small or major). Both cases it involving either you need to get approval or not from your Majlis Bandaran or checking by bomba to assured that it still qualified for CF for biz building.
:( sarah
Then how long does it take to do renovations to install a single glass window? Even Madizul wrote the headmaster said the renovation began at the start of the fasting month. That was two weeks ago. And now we are told another thing, that the renovations were done on the weekend.
This is an unfair question. Whether it is closed in Ramadan or any other month does not matter as the issue remains the same i.e. lack of space to cater for the more than 1000 students. If I am the one to make the decision to close the canteen what will be the best time? I will choose a time that has minimal impact. And the month of Ramadan will be the best option because it will not be used by more that 95% of the customers. And please remember it is not a one man decision but by the PTA. Please do not forget that the changing room was used since March by all students.
Why can’t we accept that it was the most viable decision. Let us not get carried away by our imagination..
So it is fine to disallow the non fasting non Malay students from using the canteen area?
It is alright if the canteen operator does not want to run the kitchens during a month of very low business. But if the kitchen is closed, does not mean the canteen area should be closed off too.
Fyi, it has been the practice for some years now that the canteen operators close for the whole of ramadhan at sk’s and smk’s which have like 5-10% non-fasting pupils. One reason for “hiding” the non-fasting pupils during recess is so that the fasting pupils will not be tempted.
When the fasting pupils eat it becomes a disciplinary problem. Then the discipline teachers would have to punish these pupils.
I think the renovation story etc is just a cover-up. Hm’s of primary schools and principals of secondary schools who are smarter will prevent the fasting pupils from going to the canteen during recess. They would be instructed to go to the library or school hall and would be “guarded” by librarians and prefects.
Correct me if I am wrong but this is my take on this whole issue. This is about the first school that “hides” its non-fasting pupils this way.
In Harian Metro today:
Bukan tempat kotorlah!
Kuala Lumpur: Bilik persalinan yang didakwa dijadikan tempat makan bagi pelajar bukan Islam di Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Pristana, Sungai Buloh sebenarnya digunakan sejak Mac lalu berikutan kantin sekolah berkenaan tidak mampu menampung bilangan murid pada waktu rehat.
Difahamkan, bilik persalinan itu yang baru dibina tidak pernah digunakan dan ia hanya digunakan sebagai tempat makan sejak awal tahun ini, malah ia digunakan semua murid di sekolah berkenaan tanpa mengira agama dan bangsa.
Dalam tinjauan di sekolah berkenaan mendapati bilik persalinan yang dijadikan kantin sementara itu turut diletak dengan poster maklumat seperti ‘Basuh tangan sebelum makan’, ‘Bersihkan tempat makan selepas makan’ malah didapati bersih dan bukannya kotor seperti yang didakwa.
Guru besar sekolah berkenaan, Mohammad Nasir Mohd Noor berkata: “Saya tidak menyangka isu ini menjadi sensitif. Ia sebenarnya bukannya digunakan untuk pelajar bukan islam saja sebaliknya sudah digunakan sejak Mac lalu semua pelajar.
“Bilik persalinan itu tidak pernah digunakan langsung sebaliknya hanya dibuka selepas kantin tidak dapat menampung 1,000 pelajar pada waktu makan,” katanya.
Menurutnya, bilik persalinan itu dihias seperti kantin dan meja dan kerusi ditempatkan di dalam bilik berkenaan juga sama seperti yang ada di kantin.
Katanya, atas arahan Kementerian Pelajaran, bilik berkenaan ditutup serta-merta dan pelajar bukan Islam menggunakan bilik yang lebih selesa sepanjang Ramadan ini.
The crux of the matter is the question of why the school ‘refused’ to open the canteen to its (very) small number of non-Muslim students.
This presents a problem that would not be unique to Seri Pristana alone since a feature of the whole schooling system is that Sekolah Kebangsaan has very few non-Malay pupils.
The Seri Pristana incident would deter non-Malay parents from enrolling their children in SK.
I am just guessing that they were quite satisfied that the temporary canteen was good enough for students to eat during Ramadan until one of the parents sent the pictures to Malaysiakini.
I would guess the same.
re: “good enough for students”
B’cos there are so few of them. A negligible handful, in the opinion of the school admin, as a percentage of the overall enrollment.
It’s a minority-majority issue. Like I said, this story is on the front page of the Tamil dailies. So it’s a race issue b’cos the kids in the photo were almost all Indians (with the exception of one pupil who looked Chinese.)
Kamalanathan has apologised and donated 10k to the school. Now that is an Indian who put his money where his mouth is.
This is the beauty about Malaysia, matters regarding eating places and school recess got blown out of proportion as though its life and death.
Before when we were in British Malaya, we were made to eat everywhere near drains and behind latrines and under a big angsana tree with bird droppings and so forth, nothing happened.
Its all because those bloody politicians making issue out of nothing. They instill hate and distrust at anything esp with whatever the government does.
In Palestine, at the refugee camps of Syria, the destitute Myanmar Rakhine, the poor hurricane victims of Carribean don’t even have a decent place to eat nor even decent food nor clothes.
These lively school kids, in nice prim and clean uniforms, with handphones et el been made an issue.
How lovely and beautiful this country is.
Back in British Malayan days, the kids were probably in rags at home and in school. School probably offers a much better environment than most homes in those days.
The same sentiment cannot be expected when you flip things around now. Parents who could afford better, expect better. (Unlike the examples quoted above, the kids NEED NOT eat in that room under normal circumstances). This negative feeling will be multiplied many folds when a new (or weird) implementation is perceived to be unfair / targets a certain group of people.
While I do not subscribe to the believe that the school is “out to get the non Muslims”, this lack of sensitivity coupled with bad planning and decision making cannot be treated as “nothing lah, what’s the big deal?”. Undeterred, this mentality will indeed snowball into something much larger than we could handle. By then, it would be too late.
I believe the HM did the mistake not intentionally but during Ramadan month there is no issue of space I canteen and the canteen should be opened for the use of non Muslim.
Well said. There will be a holiday break during Hari Raya. Any planned renovations can be done around that time.
I believe the HM is probably the type that PAS breeds, that hate anything about non muslims
But the irony its all at the top of the PAS food chain the supreme leader hugs and kisses, infidels, the sexual offenders, the rear admiral
Yup.
But all this (what you’ve said) is over and above the head of the Dapsters. They live in either their Chinese cocoon or Malaysian First bubble.
His daughter have posted in Facebook. She said her father is Pro-establishment.
:)
Reading through the Umno aligned blogs where Indians and Chinese are frequently referred as ”babi’, ‘paria’ and ‘keling’, I am not surprised if the HM could have got his prejudices from there.
Somebody has forgot to mention words, labels and terms being bandied on Melayu, Muslim, Nabi Muhammad and Allah on anti UMNO blogs and news portal.
Don’t act naive will you!
Mr Shamril,
Hahahaha who’s the rear admiral here? LOL the HM could also be an armno man. Politics is like this – today someone you condemn can be the one you hug tomorrow, whether he’s the front desk manager or the rear admiral hehe.
http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/no-more-meals-near-toilets-for-pupils-1.325390
quote,”Headmaster Mohamad Nasir Mohd Noor apologised for the oversight. He said the school management did not think the matter would become a national issue as students, regardless of race, had used the rooms to eat before this.
“Our canteen can’t hold more than 300 students at a time.
“Children would sit on the canteen steps, beside the big drains or just eat while standing and we were worried about their safety and comfort.
“So, since March, we opened the unused changing rooms as a sub-canteen for the students to have their meals.”
The school has more than 1,000 students. Nasir said the rooms had sinks and showers but no toilets.
“We cordoned off the canteen for a few days as we were fixing glass doors and for small renovations.”
He said since there were only 12 to 15 non-Muslim students on Monday, when the pictures were taken by the parent, only one of the changing rooms was used.”unquote.
1- So I can conclude that students of ALL RACE had been using the changing rooms since May 2013 as an alternate place to the canteen.
2- The non-Muslim students had their lunch at the changing rooms because the canteen was closed for a few days for small renovations.
Hopefully the HM will not be criticised by the public for letter some of the students eat outside the canteen, near or on top of the drains, on the field, etc., due to lack of space.
Kalamanathan should come up with a solution on how to solve the problem of space inadequacy of the school canteen for the students.
Setem,
From what I hear, there were apparently no signs of the “small renovations” yesterday when the media descended on the premises.
I’m open to the possibility that the school simply closed the canteen because it couldn’t be bothered to cater to its “only 12 to 15 non-Muslim students”.
i think, this being Ramadhan, the non-Muslims should have volunteered to fast together with their Muslim friends out of respect. To insist that they have the right to flaunt their eating in public shows how much we have degraded. (To be fair, its probably the politicians and not the students who are making an issue out of this).
MUS
re: “the non-Muslims should have volunteered to fast together with their Muslim friends out of respect”
How about the Muslims respect the right of the non-Muslims not to observe an ibadah which is not a part and parcel of our religion?
How about the Malays volunteer not to serve beef at any public function attended by Hindus?
vice versa, islam is the federal religion
:)
Glad that you’re bringing this up for debate. What parameters do you suggest?
Who gives in on what boundaries?
Helen those instigators are acah with you and suddenly you be jumping all over already. why lah?
MUS, was being sarcastic I supposed. And again he may not be what he seems to be…But then again you may be right to be jumpy also…
re: “suddenly you be jumping all over already”
It’s my non-Muslim reaction. I may jump less than my fellow ‘nons’ but I’ve never made a secret that I support Chinese school.
Both sides (Satu Sekolah) and Vernacular are unhappy with each other lah and there are a number of simmering issues which we’ve swept under the carpet but not tried to resolve.
Yup, you definitely the less jumpy of the lot. That MUS there is melampau to even suggest what he did. I would not give it any weigh btw.
‘…there are a number of simmering issues which we’ve swept under the carpet but not tried to resolve.’
Perhaps we did.
Nobody should be expected to volunteer to fast together “out of respect”. The public outrage is there to curb this kind of erroneous thinking.
I have a Muslim friend who lives in UK with her family. Her 8 year old daughter observes her fasting despite objections from the school’s headmistress and many other parties. She attends parties and picnics and watches other eat while she leaves her allocated portion untouched. I feel that her steadfastness will bring her that much closer to her Allah.
Forcing others not to tempt us is akin to shortcutting one’s religious duty, that’s my personal opinion.
That said, I have always reminded myself not to eat or drink in front of fasting Muslims as it would be plain cruel. However, I like to be able to make that choice myself, not forced into it.
Malaysians are well-known to be highly tolerant, flexible and adaptable precisely because we grew up in a multi-cultural society and because we’ve learned to give-and-take since young. Take that away and we lose our biggest advantage in the world arena.
‘That said, I have always reminded myself not to eat or drink in front of fasting Muslims as it would be plain cruel. However, I like to be able to make that choice myself, not forced into it.’ <— all I can say is, THANK YOU for making that choice. Thank you. You don't know how much that means to some of us.
and I personally would not like to have forced anyone to make the choice either, but it's really, really nice to know that your friend, or someone else, are kind enough to want to do that for us.
“… To insist that they have the right to flaunt their eating in public shows how much we have degraded…”
Are you serious or joking here? Why do you feel degraded? You fast because of your faith, Nons don’t and can’t do so because their faith lies somewhere else. And honestly I can never bring myself to fast for more than 10 hours a day for a month (refrain from food and drinks from just before dawn until sunset). I know there’s this notion that Nons would have to tuck into their food and drink faraway from the eyes of Muslims during the Ramadan season for the sake of “respect”. If a Non is working or studying in a largely Malay organization, he/she will probably feel it. Once a Malay colleague smilingly (or jokingly) told me during one Ramadan, “Jangan makan di depan I, tau?” And by the way, please don’t benchmark the Nons against political animal like OKM@imokman; in my opinion, he should be awarded an Oscar for his fasting stunt.
From the star:
“He said the canteen had been closed over the past week due to a minor “renovation”.
Mohd Nasir brought us into the canteen to show us the newly-installed glass doors at a small corner of the canteen.
The renovation was completed over the weekend, he said.
“The canteen was supposed to have been re-opened on Monday. I did not know that it was kept closed. I was away for a meeting that day,” Mohd Nasir said.”
It was supposed to be re-opened last Monday. Pengurusan yang tak berapa cekap. Itu sahaja. Semoga jadi pengajaran. Cuma saya tertanya2 memang semua kantin di sekolah kebangsaan tutup ke semasa bulan Ramadhan? Itu tak patut lah,,
re: “Cuma saya tertanya2 memang semua kantin di sekolah kebangsaan tutup ke semasa bulan Ramadhan? Itu tak patut lah”
You’re right Nurul. There is a bigger and broader issue at stake, i.e. how we’re negotiating our shared public space. Seri Pristana is only a trigger.
Honestly, non-Malay parents are very reluctant to enrol their children in SK. You can probably understand what I’m getting at. But can the other Malays see why?
Setuju dengan you helen. Whoever leads, whether HM in school, minister in ministry, politician in constituency, doctor in hospitals, etc. should think outside the box and look at wider scopes.
This is multiracial country mind us all. But then this is the problem if the place or grouping is occupied by majority of ONE race and as usual whoever leads only think of what is inside the box and narrower scope.
Why not just close the` Malay`, Chinese and Tamil schools and everybody goes to only 1Malaysia schools where every leader need to think and cater for everybodies?
Setuju kan senang. Sekolah Melayu semua kita tutup. Tak payahlah ada orang komplen pasal sekolah Melayu lagi. Geng-geng anti Sekolah Melayu memang dok tunggu peluang macam ni. Pengetua tu pun odikal!
oh man, please don’t fall in the ‘religious angle’ trap that the original complainant had inserted in her complain! am I really the only person who sees that what this school needs is a bigger space and there’s no conspiracy against non-muslim kids whatsoever?
Let me give you an exacmple. When I was working last time in a private company, I was 1 out of only 3 Muslim staffs out of 25 non Muslim staffs. The company decided to have their big holiday trip for all the staffs smack during Ramadan, and expect us to join (puasa or not puasa, but they intend to eat a lot while on the trip since meals are paid for by the big boss).
Is it because they don’t respect my religion?
I chose to see it because the logistics work out in the favour of the majority (non Muslims) as the air tickets are cheaper during Ramadan (non peak season), which is why year after year, company trips are always held smack during the fasting month.
Is it fair for the 3 of us? not really. But do we think it’s a huge conspiracy against us hence a need to fight for our rights to have a holiday during other times?
It’s hard to say but it became a case of where ‘the needs of the many outweighs the few’. From a profitable POV i understand the company would want to cut cost where possible, and since there’s only 3 of us – we would just be part of the collateral.
I know at least 1 other company (that have very few Muslim staffs) that does this too.
Now back to the school – canteens are not actually operated by the school (unless one of the teacher owned the tender), but they’re run by operators who’d gotten tenders from the Ministry of Education if I’m not mistaken. So basically, you have a real deal businessman/woman running that little kiosk.
The HM probably had to think of the livelihood of the canteen operator too, while juggling the needs of 1k plus students. He had to do the best he can but of course it’s always easy for those not in his shoes to say ‘you should’ve done better’.
it’s a fine balance. Therefore I think it’s not fair to jump to conclusion and give the verdict ‘they just couldn’t be bothered’ and such.
I agree that from the business sense, the food vendor would be better off preparing Ramadan buka puasa dishes.
But how strict would the SK be about allowing non-Malay food operators? Again this issue extends to other SKs beyond Seri Pristana.
I think this issue just escape us for a long time already.
Even in Ramadan, If the canteen operators are having business in Pasar Ramadan, they can easily take some of the food to be sold in PaRam and made it available in canteen. If tak habis, just bring it to PaRam afterwards.
Just that, do all SK close their canteen during Ramadan?
Guess that we have to pay our nearest SK a visit …
do that, pay a visit to the schools and have a talk with the canteen operators to know how they work. right now people are just speculating and pointing fingers. I may sound like a bleeding heart, but the public is being really accusatory and unfair in their judgement regarding this issue.
even now, people are seeing the closing down of school canteens (certain schools, not all) as a discriminatory act rather than seeing that each canteen operator probably have valid reason to do so that has nothing to do with religion/ race. It’s all about the money, guys. School canteen is a business.
And I was made to listen to Hokkien for almost a year in one of the largest American Insurance co, 13 years ago in Penang, just because I was the only Malays there of all the 20 odd staffs for the morning briefing that could runs for hours. 5 days a week.
Did I made a big fuss over it. No. Can’t the guys be speaking English instead? Yes. But they don’t. Every morning my boss would say, you don’t mind ahh, we speak in Hokkien. Not a problem I can learn a word or two.
So for who gives in and what boundaries, the one with the biggest heart gets to decide. We all know who that is don’t we?
The canteen operator can cease to sell food during Ramadhan if there are only a dozen or so “customers”. Perfectly understandable.
However, the canteen is the school’s property. Surely they could just cordon off the whole area with the exception of 2 or 3 tables’ space at the entrance or near the sink area (since the school so love to talk about their sink facilities :p)? Restaurants do that all the time when they are nearing closing time and do not fancy customers re-dirtying a just-cleaned area.
it depends though. My school’s canteen operator is Chinese (majority students are non Muslims, lots of Bumis though) My brother’s school has 2 canteen operators- Chinese and Malay (about half and half student population between Muslim and non Muslims). My mom’s vocational school (ok we’re a family of educators who had taught in many, many schools) canteen operator is Chinese (majority non Muslims, many Bumis)
Depends on who approved the tender, and what they think works best for the school? I assume a Muslim-majority school would probably prefer to get a Muslim operator, but that depends on whoever is approving the tenders.
(it makes me wonder if tender processes are similar for SJKC/ other vernacular schools?)
(but how does the race of canteen operator matter in this equation?) O_o
Halal-haram cooking.
During my school days, the canteen still open during Ramadhan. Only no canteen operator doing biz on that time. So the students opts to bring the food from home. No, a lot of SK or SMK open their canteen, only the canteen operators closed shop during Ramadhan. And this also goes with my kids school nowdays.
This HM in hot water, I think because he want to make sure that the kids eat in a healthier invironment. Construction means a lot of dust and if it not clean properly it can effect the health of his student. So. to make sure it safe to all, he need to inspect it himself ().
Not that I defend him mind you, but that always happen to my kids school where HM usually inspect everything himself before agreeing on something. No second hand information for my kids HM so I concluded that HM have the same attitude.
:D sarah
Jamie,
I think the HM could have made a wrong decision (please refer to my post above). I don’t understand how we Malaysians like to make death threats against others e.g. such threats were made against the mother who blew the whistle, against the HM and also the alvivi couple. What happened to us these days?
because things are reaching a boiling point. It’s so messed up I can’t even begin to explain it.
For one thing – people don’t bother checking for facts and when things like this happen – deep rooted prejudice and bias all rear their ugly head – and people use THAT to judge. That’s why this Seri Pristana case blew up this way. Everyone fell into the race/religious trap when if one bother to look at it with a fresh perspective – or at least bersangka baik – you’d know this had never been about religious. heck, if I were a kid in that school – I’d probably prefer eating in that changing room because it’s less stuffy than the canteen – and it feels like a private room!
Everyone’s too quick to condemn, to judge because of their own prejudice that’s running rampant and unchecked these days. Why can’t we not condemn? why can’t we try to give people the benefit of the doubt?
People are now saying ‘don’t be stupid, don’t make mistakes then. You should be smarter etc etc’. But we’re human. To err is human. We should instead tell ourselves – ‘don’t condemn too fast’. To forgive is divine.
We’ve all overlooked one point.
From the photo of the changing room and the tables and chairs provided, it is barely big enough to fit in 20 students comfortably. Is the school seriously trying to tell the public that with an additional 20 places they can now squeeze their existing 1000 (less 20) students into a canteen meant for 350? Those with exact figures are welcomed to provide them.
I started out being objective to the case. However, it is looking more and more like it is just nice to fit it’s purpose of housing the dozen or so non Muslims… sigh….
Sigh … a mere 2-and-1/2 hours ago at 1.50pm you commented so assuredly that the misjudgment is “certainly nothing to do with race / religion”.
Such a quick turnaround?
Cause the math can’t tally and it has only become clear to me after having taken a second look at the buka puasa photo (10 big strapping adults in a room that looks crowded already) and somebody mentioning the student count of 1000.
Seriously, they set up the facility to “siphon” away 20 out of 1000 students and that’s a space crunch solved? 0 _ 0
Even 20 out of 350 seems fishy….
please, please for the sake of whatever you believe in – go talk to the parents of the school. go talk to kids. find out for real instead of making speculations that can potentially incite REALLY bad feelings between races. I cannot believe this HM would put non Muslim kids in there JUST for Ramadan, because it’s so atrocious I cannot believe NONE of the teachers and PIBG staff would not say anything.
Just please – find out the truth by asking the people who actually know the school./ have kids there. Please.
my son’s school canteen is closed during Ramadhan
It is more than “couldn’t be bothered” as you might think. Some people religiously think that kids should not see other kids eating during Ramadan or they will break their fast.
Granted, the issue has settled and the non-Muslim students can now eat at a proper place.
re: “Some people religiously think that kids should not see other kids eating during Ramadan or they will break their fast.”
Same applies in the adult Muslim environment. It’s a race (religious) relations push-and-shove that’s happening now in Malaysia.
Helen – There is no proof or nobody is publicly accusing the HM closed the canteen during Ramadan. Where did you get the information that the HM closed the canteen during Ramadan?
If the canteen was open, why in the world would the Indian kids be having their meal in the toilet?
According to the school, the toilet has been used as a ‘dining hall’ since March b’cos the canteen is not big enough to accommodate the huge enrollment.
Since it is puasa month and all the Malay-Muslim kids are not eating, then there is ample space in the canteen for the small handful of non-Muslim pupils, bukan?
http://on.fb.me/13AFg4o
from the screencap above, it’s mentioned that Muslim kids who are not fasting are also asked to eat in the ‘toilet dining room’ with the other non Muslim kids, since the canteen is closed.
there’re other reports that said there had indeed been a small renovation going on at the corner of the canteen (not visible from the pictures of the canteen going around). It involves a glass door and admin didn’t want to the students to go around getting hurt.
I have been in construction for a very long time. With proper planning, replacement of timber to glass doors for currently in-use buildings take 2 days, at most. Everything is done offsite, at the factory until the glass panel is ready for installation then they bring it to site (in this case, the canteen).
Unless the roof collapsed, or the walls and columns have major cracks, there is really no reason to cordon off the canteen. Cosmetic improvements should have been KIV until school holidays.
Did the HM show any proof of the contract works being awarded for the renovation?
can anyone please GO to the school /talk to people who either WORKED at the school or have kids going there instead of making countless speculations? Because there’s already some people who do and gave their evidence that this is a legit eating space that ALL kids have been using since March but people don’t want to believe that. Some say because of conflicting report with the ‘news’ and the HM’s explanation. Suddenly, everyone in Malaysia believes the mainstream media :/
Jamie,
To answer your questions:
(i) if the issue didn’t blow up DURING Ramadan, would everyone be as pissed as they are NOW?
I think if the timing was not puasa month, ‘everyone’ would not be as suspicious of the HM’s motive.
(ii) if the pictures had included Muslim kids eating in that room, would everyone be as pissed as they are NOW?
If the pictures had included Muslim kids eating in that room in June or May, everyone be not be as pissed as they are NOW.
The Race and Religion slant is there that’s making this issue controversial. To deny the R&R angle is to only pretend that we’re living in YasminAhmadland.
Dapsters and Oppo are creating a ruckus to gain political capital as is their usual reaction to R&R issues. I’m someone who has no wish to give them that political capital but even I can’t shake off my suspicion.
But I’m not adamant on insisting that the HM mesti berniat jahat.
I truly appreciate your sentiments — what you have written about not jumping to conclusions and not rushing to condemn.
And it’s true that some quarters are taking advantage of this controversy to push the narrative that Malays and Muslims are oppressing the minorities.
Let’s just find out the truth, as you’ve said.
How can? The Contractor is surely a bumiputra. Bumiputra celebrate Hari Raya Puasa. How then?
The school may have overlooked this matter, but they could have been more sensitive or thoughtful in order to avoid issues being exploited.
my hunch regarding the canteen IF indeed it’s closed is this: the canteen operator does not want to operate if there’s going to be less than 30-40 people eating there at any given time. The profit logistic doesn’t work out.
This used to happen in my school when some classes (not the whole school) had to attend school for exams/ other events during school holiday. We would be told to bring our own food and water. Either that or the school canteen would only open a small section, and sell only one convenient dish: Mee Maggi. in which case, better to bring your own food.
In Ramadan my school canteen did not close, but then again, being a convent school there’s more non-Muslims then there are Muslims so it makes no sense to close it down since business would still be brisk as usual.
There’s only 20+ non fasting students in Sri Pristana (those who don’t fast out of religious obligation). Kalau tambah non Muslim staffs yang makan kat kantin – mungkin tak sampai 30 orang? Kita ambik lah 30 orang to round it up. Average makanan kat kantin would cost around maybe RM2? (tu pun kira budget tinggi, I used to have only $1 to spend at school LOL). So 30 X RM2 – would translate to $60 per day during Ramadan. Belum tolak kos etc.
Is it profitable?
Therefore I think -IF the canteen had been shut – it would be because the canteen operator knew they’d be doing business elsewhere for Ramadan to make up for the lack of profits in school during that time. If this is a normal occurrence all through the years then I THINK the non fasting students would’ve already known to bring their own food during this time.
(I remember there’s a report in one of the papers that mentioned when asked why the canteen is closed during Ramadan, the school admins said ‘common sense, isn’t it?”
So again – if some of us would stop seeing this through a race/ religious persecution issue as the original complainant would have us do – it REALLY is not. Sure we’ll have people going ‘apsal tak make better arrangements’, ‘why don’t they do this.. or that’ but the shoe only fits when we’re walking in it, isn’t it?
Just my two cents.
re: “the non fasting students would’ve already known to bring their own food”
It crossed my mind yesterday whether the school deliberately made the canteen out of bounds b’cos it was afraid that the pupils might bring home food that is not halal and “contaminate” the dining area.
—- I don't think so because I REALLY believe all the kids, including Muslims are also using the 'toilet' dining area before Ramadan.
Some mentioned even anak cikgu pun makan kat situ.
If people are afraid of people not bringing 'halal' food and contaminate the area – then wouldn't the people also be afraid of these kids contaminating the 'toilet' dining room with the same?
we see PIBG/ staffs eating what looked to be buka puasa meal in the same room without qualms. If there's any fear of 'non halal food contamination', they wouldn't be using that room.
(also, just to clarify – most of us don't mind you guys bringing non halal food unless you put that leg of pork on my table without cover that I'd have to clean it up or something. The only 'non halal food' related snafu I've ever encountered was in my mom's boarding school – where one cheeky student puts a pork bone on Malay student's pillow. But it's just that one time).
Here is an article about Ramadan in Arab countries (in a bad light):
http://www.policymic.com/articles/11793/ramadan-2012-11-arab-countries-that-oppress-their-people-during-the-holy-month
“The regime in Morocco has laws to criminalize those who dare to eat in public or open their café or restaurants unless it’s for tourists and non-Muslims. Freedom of faith is prohibited by the Moroccan constitution and won’t be permitted in the near future, so those who don’t observe Ramadan can only hide and eat in disgrace.”
Having a field day nampak…
A lot of the non-Muslims in Malaysia might have the above in mind when the school incident cropped up, hence the big-reaction.
After all, things tend to start up small by one or two over zealous minds with a distorted interpretation of what is good / right, and before you know it, 10 years down the road it is the new law and shoven down everybody’s throat.
The international media will have a field day with this, coming in the aftermath of the sentencing of a Norwegian woman for reporting a rape in Dubai. This will surely embarrass Muslims even more. There are Muslims who think they are more Islamic than other Muslims. Is it any wonder why Muslims are being view with suspicion not only in Western countries but also other countries as well ?
They would better off with a story of 23 Indian students died because of food poisoning http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/19/world/asia/india-school-meal-poisoning/?hpt=ias_c1
However, anything Islamic is juicy. It sells and have high multiplication factor.
Right. The hate narratives simply fit. What more as we are having the war on terror=Islam at an international level, with Marino thrown in for good measures.
The local crusaders are having the chance of a lifetime.
It is therefore imperative for the gov to nip it in the bud. Declare that the school’s mgmt made a very bad decision in order to save a few bucks / to convenient some workers and it should never be emulated by any other schools.
Announce that in Malaysia, we remain as always, a multi-racial country that is tolerant of each other’s practices and nobody could impose their will upon others. Then move on.
By keeping mum, it is actually encouraging speculations and misunderstandings.
Dear WJ Chan,
Zack referenced an article that said “The regime in Morocco has laws to criminalize those who dare to eat in public”.
However we have showboating political opportunists like Ong Kian Ming who has monopolized Twitterjaya #sahur and daily hogs iftar.
So there is no need to wait for laws to be made to penalize non-Muslims who eat in public. We have OKM volunteering the ‘nons’ for abstinence.
I am not a follower of OKH’s twitter account and am not aware of the calls for abstinence. I am very interested to find out more now that you have brought it up.
Sure. Just google his name within my blog. The ‘Search’ box is the bright orange bar on the top right.
I guess Malaysia is a bit relaxed compared to this. In Dubai you can be jailed even if you are non-Muslims?
I don’t have the answer about the issue, it is just the way the different Muslim communities treat Ramadan.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/31/dubai-tourists-must-respect-ramadan
Britons warned to respect Ramadan while holidaying in Dubai
“The Foreign Office advice reads: “Do not eat, drink or smoke in public view during the daytime (including in your car). This is considered highly disrespectful. It is also against the law and failure to comply could result in arrest. Pregnant, nursing women, and young children are exempt from the provisions, but discretion should be exercised.”
Asking non Muslims to voluntarily fast out of respect is just nonsense, people with this kind of mentality is giving Islam a bad image. Fasting in Ramadan is only for Muslims.
Islam is a beautiful religion, it’s too bad that some of its followers who are not fully equipped with religious knowledge memandai giving their own ideas without basis. Islam strictly forbids making fun of other religions/gods, places of worship as well as priests or other religious symbols.
Have you seen the scissorati’s headlines today….it’s no longer ‘batu’ API it’s more like volcano !
“Islam is a beautiful religion, it’s too bad that some of its followers who are not fully equipped with religious knowledge memandai giving their own ideas without basis.
Some goes to the non-Muslims who memandai claim that “Bak Kut Teh” is HALAL.
Cannot agree more Kelly. The Quran even mention this. That why I don’t understand why people try to force other people to do what you and only you must do it.
Like fasting for example, is your own. Not other peoples. You need to follow it through regardless of others people said and done. Other muslim can try to advised other muslim to observed it but what was their right to inform other to follow it too.
“Mereka dengan agama mereka dan kita dengan agama kita”. Why so hard to understand? Or this just a case of losing the sense of respect between races in Malaysia hmmm
:] sarah
it seems many people dont understand the meaning of ‘volunteer’.
MUS
this had been going around like hot cakes – the OP said she’s the school’s HM’s daughter?
http://on.fb.me/18yw2Xx
jangan salah faham
ini bukan salah faham sebnarnya tandas itu ialah bilik persalinan
https://helenang.wordpress.com/2013/07/23/dictionary-definition-of-toilet/
Postscript:
I personally do not think “changing room” is the most accurate description. A changing room implies a stall where one changes clothes, like when we try on clothes for size in the mall.
The room shown in the photos has got wash basins and showers. You do more than change clothes there.
i’m going by a Malaysian context here where tandas is jamban is also the place where you ease yourself, why bilik persalinan is where you can change your clothes and bilik mandi is where you shower. I guess that bilik persalinan in question can double as bilik mandi. bilik mandi can sometimes have a jamban in it, but a tandas is usually exclusively filled with jambans where you do your number 1s and 2s. Sometimes if you’re desperate you can mandi in the tandas if there’s water but only when there’s really no other choice.
so when people call it eating in tandas, it just sounds so bad.
and i think people missed this point – it’s mentioned the changing room/shower room/toilet (dear gawd see what it’s doing to me!) had never been used for that purpose so it’s in pristine condition – hence the decision to use it as a makeshift bilik makan.
so ridiculously funny when people jump the gun on this issue, when you think of it.
You know what Jamie, I start feeling bad about my house. Since it’s terrace house, the bathroom-toilet (jamban) is inside the house, and it is quite close to the dining area – it must be dirty.
Yes me too. Guess I better build my own house then. Or the old folks in kampung got it right. Remember once upon a time the toilet was outside the house and when you want to ease yourself you need to go out with touchlight and ask you brother or sister to stay outside???
:D sarah
LOL you guys made me laugh
“I personally do not think “changing room” is the most accurate description. A changing room implies a stall where one changes clothes, like when we try on clothes for size in the mall.”
I think you were revering to Fitting Room in the mall.
Here is the definition from Uncle Wiki:
“A changing room, locker room, dressing room (usually in a sports, theater or staff context) or changeroom (regional use) is a room or area designated for changing one’s clothes. Changing rooms are provided in a semi-public situation to enable people to change clothes in privacy, either individually or on a gender basis.”
Thanks. I stand corrected. I meant fitting room, as you say.
This is not about race or religion. It is about a school’s management having made a screwed up decision and then decided to cover it up with lame excuses. While we should not pour oil onto fire, white washing the truth to prevent it from escalating into a political issue is not right either. The anger will not dissipate if we trivialise and sweep the mistakes under a rug.
Mistake 1 :
Should have converted the recess into 2 sessions rather than herding them into a changing room.
Mistake 2 :
The canteen is definitely not crowded during Ramadhan month, why cordon it off from the students now? Wanting to save money (in terms of not having to clean the big area) by cutting corners, is an equally wrong mentality.
Mistake 3 :
All renovations must be done during long school holidays. Doing non-urgent renovation during the school term is a bad idea. Not having done an otherwise “important” renovation during the previous school break is a lack of planning.
Mistake 4 :
Insisting that it is OK for the kids to eat in a changing room that is so near to an actual toilet. Even went so far as to put on a buka puasa party to show to the public. If Obama were to drink water straight from a muddy river, it does not mean that it is an acceptable practice to ALL others, ok?
Such blatant mistakes from the head of a school should not be cloaked under the protection of religious / racial zealots. Let the one responsible face the music and accept the right punishment. We do not live in a world without consequences. Life goes on. It is still SATU MALAYSIA.
Anyway, I heard they are reopening the canteen with haste, wonder what happened to the renovation works… completed overnight?
re: “Even went so far as to put on a buka puasa party to show to the public.”
Don’t think the picture was staged. The Facebook expose went viral in double quick time.
Whereas the men in the photo are wearing songkok and baju Melayu, not something (their get-together complete with catered food) that one can coordinate in a jiffy in order to do damage control.
It is just a few trays of food (for less than 30 pax from the looks of the portion), without heaters, elaborate displays or extra tables and chairs. I could order it from most small eateries for tonight’s dinner if I want to. A person with reasonable resources and panicking to save his career could definitely get the school canteen operator to whip up something double quick.
But say you are correct; we give them the benefit of doubt. I still stand by the fact that them doing it does not prove one bit that is it socially acceptable for anyone else in a developing country (not some refugee camp or war zone) to eat there on a long term basis.
Once again, I feel that it is an individual or even the entire mgmt team’s mistake, certainly nothing to do with race / religion. Let the wrong doers own up and leave the latter 2 out of it all.
The pictures were taken from Mazidul Akmar’s blog http://www.mazidulakmal.com/2013/07/pelajar-makan-di-bilik-persalinan-wakil.html
It was send by Yang DiPertua PIBG SRK Sri Pristana, Hussein Mohd Ariff on the recent buka puasa event.
If the buka puasa event was held WAAAAAY before the public outcry, I would understand. Anyway moot point already lah…
Brader baru puasa dua minggu la, how WAAAAAAAAAAAAY before the public outcry you want?
First week people to tend to eat at home. Some even balik kampung to start the Ramadan with loved ones. Only after 2nd week onwards you can start seeing the buffet counters fills with people.
If you a regular, you would no that the price per head is much more expensive the last two weeks in Ramadan.
So I asked again, how WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY before the public outcry you want?
Somehow, I get the feeling those staff members breaking the fast in that changeroom cum canteen will be back at their normal “buka puasa” room next week once this case is over. :)
First of all, you are right, that this issue should not be seen as religious issue. Many have made it clear even Malay students pun makan dalam bilik persalinan tersebut.
FYI, my daughter goes to that school and I can tell you, the “changing room” used as alternate canteen is much cleaner than many house kitchens!! I do not know the HM, but what I heard from my neighbours, he is a very proactive HM.
I suggest those who have negative views on this issue, can visit the school themselves instead of being a keyboard warrior.
We all have different definitions of clean / proactive, but I think for once, for the good of the kids, we should agree to look at a problem for what it is, rather than lump religion and race to it.
Regardless of how clean the room is, the thought of having the kids eating so near to an actual toilet (just next door) when there is a perfectly good and empty canteen nearby, is wrong. Religion motives aside, surely the 4 points I’ve brought up in my original comment above is adequate to prove that some form of error has occurred along the decision making chain?
I do not wish to bandy words, but I believe we can accept proactive means taking action in anticipation before a problem arise, yes?
As a poster above mentioned, it is the case of majority wins, and in the case of SKSP, the majority are Malay, so, of course the HM had to make decision based on the needs of the Malay first, thus the canteen was renovated during fasting month since it is closed during this time.
FYI, SKSP is a fairly small school with high enrolment. It is easy to say this & that without knowing the situations on the ground.
I have obviously spent too long a time abroad. We renovate our schools here during the school holidays. If the canteen is too small, we split the kids into several session to makan. I guess I have difficulty accepting that the kids would be in a worst off scenario then when I went to school decades ago.
I can understand when the HM made a decision based on the majority’s needs. After all, we all make some lousy decisions from time to time. What I cant comprehend is the public defending his move as the correct one. Even after extensive analysis of why it is wrong.
Especially when the so called mother, says ‘My child in mess at Malay School’ up to ‘can ur Allah accept this?’, I,m not at all suprised this has turned into a racial and religious issues. Its not that anybody is saying it is ok since the Malay students as well had been having their break there since March, but it is a must now to clarify that they did, since all people talks is about the Indians students.
The apartheid narratives simply fit. Thus I’am not all surprised.
But what I’m really surprised at, is that the so called mother have been left untouched considering the kind of remarks she had put up at her wall. Is it fair to bring in race and Allah into this stupid mess?
Hmmmm.
Can’t the renovations be done during the semester holidays?
As Chan said, renovations to install glass doors take a day or two to complete. In fact, some news sources reported the school authorities claimed the renovations were done and completed in the weekend, but students were still eating in the shower room canteen due to “miscommunication”.
I wonder if the school authorities are attempting to cover-up their bad decision?
‘but I think for once, for the good of the kids, we should agree to look at a problem for what it is, rather than lump religion and race to it.<— agree. which is why I'm sore the original complainant chose to do so by raising it as a religious issue by headlining the whole thing as 'Non Muslim kids forced to eat in toilet' instead of 'School lacks space in canteen forcing children to eat in 'toilet'' (I still don't agree with the usage of the word toilet)
2; re why use the designated eating area instead of the canteen? I thought this is already so clear I'm puzzled why people keep bringing it up. The room is designed as an eating room to accommodate the spillover from the actual canteen because the actual canteen is too small. That's the purpose of the room during normal times. Kids, Malay, Chinese, Indians – eat there when there's no space in the canteen.
Now in Ramadan, the canteen is closed. (read discussions above to see why this may be the case). There's also a minor renovation going on so kids were asked to eat in the eating area so they won't get hurt.
3. Now some say this may be a case of 'hide them from eating outside as to not offend the people who fast'. But the thing is – the dining room HAD BEEN USED AS A DINING ROOM SINCE MARCH. It has ALWAYS been used as an eating area since a few months ago. Even if eating in this room is considered as 'hidden', or had anyone asked them to do so as to not eat in the open – EVERYONE has been using that room as an eating area BEFORE Ramadan. It's an eating area, period. Whether or not Ramadan goes into the equation is besides the point.
If it's so distasteful for kids to eat in that place – WHY hadn't the PIBG protested against it?? Why hadn't ANY of the teaching staffs brought up the issue before this?
Why only now, conveniently – when most Muslims aren't in the room eating because they're fasting?
That's the part that bothered me. Ramadan atau tidak has nothing to do with this (except maybe for the fact the canteen is closed). Then again my school canteen pun tutup when we had to attend SPM exams during school hols, sebab most of the students except us weren't there. It comes down to the numbers and profit. But those who have already fallen for the religious angle trap have made it in their mind to crucify the HM, crucify the system and make someone accountable. When one fact comes up to debunk the accusation, there'll always be new accusations on WHY the HM is the worst possible school administrator there is out there. I guess this is why we suddenly have so many experts on how to run the schools.
sorry for ranting Helen. had to get that off my chest. Nothing personal on any of you guys, but way this issue is blown up sickens me.
1) ok, we all know that the anxious parent and some early reporters made a mistake on the word toilet. everybody is entitled to their opinion and if opportunists want to paint it in a certain direction, the “innocent” party should have just quickly clarified the matter.
2) I have a theory on why the room cannot solve the space constraint problem. the room is big enough to hold what 20 kids? In what way does it help a school with 1000 students and a tiny canteen?
Also, replacement of a glass door takes 2 days. not weeks or months. Also they need not close the whole canteen over the door replacement.
3) If there is prove of the “since march” usage, then the HM should have handed it out to all the reporters ASAP. Anyway, see point 2 above… a satellite canteen that only draws away 20 out of 1000 kids and they consider their space constraint problem solved? Doesn’t make sense.
4) I cannot answer for why the PIBG or the staff did not object to it. They had their reason for keeping mum, I supposed. If my kid eats in the canteen / is fasting while a few others sit in the “clean changing room”, why should I make noise?
5) I understand that sometimes the canteen gotta tutup, but that just means no food for sale right? The tables and chairs are always available for usage kan? Cos they are school property, not the operator’s. Cordon off 3 tables for the kids to use la if lazy to clean the whole canteen.
Seriously I don’t care if it is religion ke apa. I am just not happy with the fact that people are blindly taking sides not based on cold hard facts but race / religion nowadays. We pick our sides first and then we fit our reasoning to it. Very unhealthy indeed.
I ask myself these questions:
1) Kenapa got canteen tak mau guna?
2) Kenapa got school holiday can do renovation tak boleh tunggu until then?
3) Kenapa so many other schools doing 2 sessions for recess this school tak boleh follow? Not a new idea kan? Back in my school days oredi 2 school sessions cos of space crunch.
So many bad decisions, one after another, and yet tak boleh salahkan the HM, public must accept it as it is…. how to padam the api like that?
this is the problem – because some choose to see it in the WORST light possible. After one possible explanation debunks the other, you’ll insist on why not this, and why not that, why didn’t they do this – because no matter what – some of you have already decided, set in stone that this is: 1: a religious persecution, a race issue (HM is Malay, sekolah is majority Malay etc2), 2. HM must be hung because through this one incident he is an incompetent asshat who apparently do not know how to run a school at all. Like at all! How did he even get there??
I never said you cannot salahkan HM, but seriously – if the issue didn’t blow up DURING Ramadan, if the pictures had included Muslim kids eating in that room – would everyone be as pissed as they are NOW? That is my question.
From your answer about the PIBG and staff (your answer: hey had their reason for keeping mum, I supposed. If my kid eats in the canteen / is fasting while a few others sit in the “clean changing room”, why should I make noise?) I can surmise you’ve already judged this issue with your own prejudice. Maybe you’ve had bad experience with other people that coloured your judgement in this issue. Because if a few person did it, then everyone must be as bad too. You might as well just say it. Every Malay and Muslim are evil, inconsiderate people who would persecute other people at every chance they get. That’s what this is really about isn;t it?
In which case I’m sorely disappointed, and reinforced my belief there’s not much hope for Malaysians anymore. I’m sorry.
With all due respect, I feel like suddenly we have a looooot of experts in running schools now, like the way we have so many experts in military strategies back during Lahad Datu incidents.
All these things that people are insisting the HM MUST do, or what his mistakes are etc – you guys do realize it’s all really stuff to pacify the public, without really knowing what’s going on, right? We’re doing the politicians’ jobs for them. This is what it has gone down to.
Cos all the politicians only have one thing in mind now…. how to get rid of the other party hahahaha
i’m not just talking about politicians.
My Gujarati friends wants me to convey this message to Helen and all fellow readers.
She is upset with the loose usage of the word Indian in Malaysia. “Indian” in Malaysia generally refers to Tamils or people from Tamil Nadu. Tamils have a distinctly different language and culture from other ethnic groups in India. As India is such a large country with different languages and culture and no unified script like Mandarin for the Chinese, it is not fair that all Indians in Malaysia are referenced using Tamil language and culture.
For example Little India in Penang does not represent the culture of Indians but rather Tamils. It should be called Little Tamil Nadu to be precise.
Thank you for your attention.
re: “She is upset with the loose usage of the word Indian in Malaysia.”
Oh …
re: “it is not fair that all Indians in Malaysia are referenced using Tamil language and culture”
I referenced the front page today of the vernacular newspapers read by the Indians in Malaysia. They happen to be all printed in the “Tamil” script.
Would your upset-not-Indian friend prefer a new (“not Indian”) ethnic category box to be created for her too by the National Registration Dept?
“My Gujarati friends wants me to convey this message to Helen and all fellow readers.”
Kenapa dia tak ada tangan ke nak tulis komen dia sendiri kat sini?
kalau yang kena anak india dengan cina, berkokok satu malaya .. kalau anak melayu yang kena, takde sekor jubur pun yang ambil kesah .. india dan cina malaya ni dah menaik kan darah aku lah, memang ade yang nak kena nih ..
Yupe you are right there…
The way non-Muslims make noises on anything from the beauty peagents to the canteen issue, even a liberal like Raja Petra is now becoming less liberal.
This whole thing, reading comments on Malaysiakini etc, makes me more fundamentalist. And I used to regard myself as a liberal.
I think you are. Pls stay a liberal.
Maybe I just stuck in my cocoon, but I can’t help but feel that us Malaysian have become take-take-take and take some more. No giving.
Everything others do is sinister, thus better go straight to the media.
To hell what the background situation is.
Wonder when this attitude seeps into our psyche …
Mfma,
No. Malays are still thinking about others.
The people who refuse to accept reality that this is a multicultural country with strong malay based tradition are ussualy closely related to DAP.
I think in a way it seems that it does go beyond the DAP at times. Have we been wronged by putting the blame only on that party, when it seems that the other nons also tend to do the same?
Its not that they have the word DAP on their forehead is it?
Maybe I’m just sick for us to go the easy way out. Non-DAP nons also capable of such mess.
Hindraf is one!
I think those who refuse to accept reality that this is a MULTICULTURAL country with strong Malay based traditions… are those who think its ok to close the canteen to the inconvenience of other non Muslim students during the fasting month.
AC-DC….I think you are more AC than DC…you are more alternate than direct!
It is interesting to see that you had highlight the MULTICULTURAL but convinently left the STRONG MALAY BASED that was within that paragraph as well.
With the two in context…even had the HM been a non Muslim…he would have made the decision to let the nonmuslim eat in the renovated “dining room” so that it would not be inconvenience for the strong based muslim that are studying in his school!
re: “he would have made the decision to let the nonmuslim eat in the renovated “dining room” so that it would not be inconvenience for the strong based muslim that are studying in his school!”
How would allowing 28 non-Muslim pupils to use a small section of the canteen cause any inconvenience for “the strong based muslim that are studying in his school”?
Look Helen,
With all due respect,
Despite of most muslim (except in Dubai and Saudi) being ok with people (non) eating in front of them during puasa, it does not mean that it is convenience.
The truth is, it is inconvenience. If the non muslims pupils eat within that small section of open canteen…publicly showing them indulging..what do you think the muslim kids feel?…as I said it does cause inconvenience to the majority muslim.
Having said all the above, I personally couldnt care less whether you guys want to eat front, left, right or back of me.
I live here in Australia where majority is non muslim. A lot of my white friend when I told them that I am fasting naturally refrain from eating within my sight. I dont even have to instruct or force them to do so…The irony is back in Malaysia where muslim is majority, it seems like everything has to be the hardway..the difficultway…
By the way, I have also lived in UAE, if you eat publicly over there in Ramadhan, you will even get jail. My white friend has to resort to eating in toilet…that is literally a toilet with the mangkuk tandas not the “super clean” changing/shower room kind of toilet.
re: “publicly showing them indulging..what do you think the muslim kids feel?”
Okay. Let’s throw your question to the floor.
I will put up your comment now.
What makes you think other headmasters, both Muslim and non Muslim would consider using the shower room as a proper place for a temporary canteen in the first place?
Well, you are concerned about the feelings of the Muslim students. But you do not give a hoot about the feelings of the non Muslim students who are barred from using the empty canteen, and are made to use the bathing room to eat.
what make you think other HM (muslim and non) wont do it? if you are the HM then yeah I am certain that you wouldnt do it…others…maybe…
I do give a “hoot” what other minority non muslims feel….. What about you? do you give a “hoot” what the muslim feel? more over they are the majority in that school.
What made me dont give a “hoot” is when the fact surfaced that the place has actually been used way before ramadhan as additional dining hall when no one care to whine or complaint and suddenly cry foul when it come to ramadhan time!
Even a bus driver (the person who tipped off the complaining parent) knows that something is not right with students being made to eat in a changeroom.
“I do give a “hoot” what other minority non muslims feel….. What about you? do you give a “hoot” what the muslim feel? more over they are the majority in that school.”
…and so the canteen has to be closed off since Ramadhan for renovations that only take a day or two, and the non Muslim students have to eat in the changeroom cum canteen?
“What made me dont give a “hoot” is when the fact surfaced that the place has actually been used way before ramadhan as additional dining hall when no one care to whine or complaint and suddenly cry foul when it come to ramadhan time!”
If the school authorities had allowed those 28-odd students to use the now almost empty canteen, instead of sealing it off and making them use the changeroom cum canteen, then nobody would have raised a stink about it. If they had the common sense to use a more appropriate venue such as part of the school hall, then nobody would have made a stink about it
Perhaps you should check my latest comment in Helen latest posting re:eating in the “toilet”….me…I eat and pray in the so called “toilet”.
You said “Even a bus driver (the person who tipped off the complaining parent) knows that something is not right with students being made to eat in a changeroom.”
Huhu that is funny..: apparently the bus driver and the complainers only know that it is wrong when it is in Ramadhan…not way before since March!!?? Ohh by the way…hundreds of other teacher/parents dont seems to think that it is unsuitable (or dont know that it is “wrong” for the kids to eat in that “toilet”…and yes that include me…off course “my holier than thou” attitude would say that I am better than the bus driver that you quote!
And you wrote: “…and so the canteen has to be closed off since Ramadhan for renovations that only take a day or two, and the non Muslim students have to eat in the changeroom cum canteen?”
You a steering away from the real issue and my question….For all I care they can close the canteen for the whole year and let all the students eat in the “stinking toilet” including the muslim…..now you should go a step back and answer my question: Do you give a “hoot” to the muslim?
Now this last part is what I like the most:
“If the school authorities had allowed those 28-odd students to use the now almost empty canteen, instead of sealing it off and making them use the changeroom cum canteen, then nobody would have raised a stink about it. If they had the common sense to use a more appropriate venue such as part of the school hall, then nobody would have made a stink about it”
The nobody in “nobody would have made a stink about it” above, I would suggest to be replaced with “super hygienic Nons” and the “unable to see beyond racial view” including you I guess…
You are lucky you do not belong to the 10% Chinese on “the other side”. You have no idea what we are going through… :P
What I find instructive in all this is that pro Establishment bloggers have been proactive in providing context.
Edit to add.
I do not think that the context paints a flattering picture but I do like watching the online media trouncing the mainstream media.
“Context” to rationalise the questionable decision to place a temporary canteen inside a showering room, and to close the canteen “for renovations” to install glass panels when it could be done during school break.
You framed it pretty well. This is the main point as far as I am concerned. The rest is just the show where everyone points fingers in the hope that this context gets lost in noise.
Nope…the “context” of pupils eating in a renovated changing/shower room (not toilet) and that the room has been used even by the muslim themselves and has been used way before Ramadhan….
Can you both see the non racial “context”?
You do realize that AC-DC’s context was non racial, right ?
Nope…do you?
if yes…then all I can say is I agree to disagree…
Yes I do.
But I’ll always willing to listen to those who think otherwise. What part of the context do you think is racial ?
Saying that it can be done during Hari Raya break says what to you?
Care to explain your question ?
Baca la the threads, I’m not your understudy am I?
Now I feel that we tend to OVER-ANALYSE issues like this.
Would someone out there start a donation drive to collect money for the poor school to extend the canteen?
then suddenly you can hear the frog singing loudly or the sound of the break being pressed down….hehhehheh
:D sarah
Dia orang ni semua pandai cakap saja. Tolong tak pernah mahu…
Hypocrisy of DAPSTERS/PAKATAN:
PENGADU TIDAK MUNCUL TATKALA TIMBALAN MENTERI PENDIDIKAN II HADIR DI SRK SRI PRISTANA
http://www.mazidulakmal.com/2013/07/pengadu-tidak-muncul-tatkala-timbalan.html
6. Ayah kepada pelajar India memuatnaikkan gambar ruang makan (didakwa TANDAS) di Facebook itu didapati tidak muncul sewaktu Kamalanathan melawat sekolah kira-kira jam 12.30 tengahari tadi. Dia juga tidak kelihatan sewaktu sidang media diadakan bersama wartawan pelbagai agensi berita.
Hairan.
Sepatutnya dia datang untuk mengemukakan aduan terus kepada Kamalanathan dan pastinya menjadi tumpuan wakil media pembangkang.
7. Anak lelaki sama, baru dipindahkan dari SRK Bukit Darah ke SRK Sri Pristana sejak seminggu lalu.
Baling Batu Sembunyi Tangan AGAIN!
That Mazidul fellow can’t tell the difference between father and mother.
It was a woman who brought up the issue.
So what?
Is that what the issue is? if so then has the woman showed up?
Nobody is talking about the woman belittling Malay and Allah in that FB post.
Surprise-surprise!
Actually, barring any intentional malice on the part of the HM, I think this issue is sensationalised. The canteen, being still off limits to the students is probably because the school wants to save the trouble of cleaning it after only a handful of students use it. So, they were told to use the shower room instead.
Although I don’t think it is a good idea to use the shower room for meals, it is not a toilet, and it does look decently clean and “well-furnished”. Still, they could have used other rooms instead.
If indeed it was discrimination by the HM, then the MOE & authorities should take appropriate action. However, if it is not intentional, the school should rectify and make other arrangements.
Actually, the PTA, students and parents would be aware of this arrangement since it is said to have started since March… so there are lots of people in the know.
yeah, should eat in the teacher’s common room then
I restrained myself from saying this earlier, but I feel that I must admit my own particular prejudice towards Msian Indians’ attitude; that majority of the Indians (non-Tamil speaking groups included) people sometimes go overboard mcm over issues like this.
For once, dear fellow citizens of Indian descents (non-Tamil speaking groups included), please try not to be too emotional laaa in dealing with these kinds of issues! Dont behave like those Hindraf ppl laa who demanded for the impossibles like wanting to sue the Brits for bringing their ancestors from India to Tanah Melayu, or acting like idiots when they accused the highly tolerant orang Melayus of practising genocide towards the Indians, etc.! Sudah-sudah la tu! Malays are getting pretty tired of your antics, ok!
Cut the crap laa Indian people, once and for all.
Come and smell the condescending attitude coming out from ‘Setem’.
AC-DC
Yes it is condescending….but if you read the Hindraf letter….you would then say it is rightfully so…..
I never claim that I am a self-righteous person!
Setem,
Precisely.
Re”……..please try not to be too emotional laaa in dealing with these kinds of issues! ”
I really don’t think anyone from the Malay community can ever accuse anybody else of being too emotional. Not ever.
I’m too surprised rational people could not see that. Siding along racial and religious line indeed.
I’m yet to read anyone blaming the so called mother on the Malay school and Allah remarks. How uncalled for! But hey the sane people over here seems blinded and mute on this.
It is seditious too.
Do we have to wait for another of our youngs gone MunTat over this issues before the relevant authorities decide to chip in and take action?
What a waste of souls!
Unless she has already voice her concerns to the school management, or to the PIBG with no avail, I personally think her action, going straight to the internet is a bit too hasty (especially adding race and religion remark), while not taking away her concern for the well being of her and other daughter(s)/ son(s).
…………………..
Does the HM UMNO connection have something to do with this?
Yup, it doesn’t help that he is/was Ketua UMNO bahagian, is he?
To me, the parent did the right thing by escalating the problem to the internet, but her writing could have been more tactful.
She said that she approached the authorities, but was given the runaround. With this sort of treatment, it would have taken a very long time to reach a solution.
So she felt like having to throw in Malay and Allah into the mess, so that she gets to expedite the issues raised. Posting of the pics was definitely seditious, what more with it being pitted as bangsa and agama issues.
Just because somebody made a wrong, does not make it right for her to blame Malay and Allah, what more others to support her, as if she was merely an innocent bystander!
That’s why I said she could have been more tactful in the approach.
But nothing wrong with her uploading the photographs to show what was going on. It added more proof to the issue.
I think they are the way they are. Nobody can change that. I had a no bar discussion with professional and educated Indians and even proposed a study to be conducted on the plight of their community. Sadly I don’t see that it is going anywhere and one even told me “Why can’t the Malay and the Chinese help the Indian community in this country”.
As a community they are still divided by caste, politics and economic status. In politics for example, they have several party and I noticed that almost every time they hold AGM there will be squabble.
The rich Indian hardly help the poor Indian; once a tea lady at my office asked me to find a job for her hubby as driver and she specifically mentioned that she prefers Malay or Chinese boss, and I understand why since I have seen how her Indian boss treated her in the office.
Sad to say, that every time news about the Indian community comes out it is almost always on negative notes. For the past few weeks for example I read few murdered cases in the paper involving mostly the Indian.
The question is what do they do as a community? They are never in sync in their action and thought. Just look at this case, all that they are doing is making noise but never making an attempt to be part of the solution; hoping that everybody else will solve it for them to quote I am Mulan’s Friend (She is not Tamil and not Indian according to her) “My Gujarati friends wants me to convey this message to Helen and all fellow readers……….”
Last year I had the opportunity to do a program with a group of underprivileged children and there I met an Indian boy (the eldest) with his 3 sisters. They are all great kids with full of hope and ambition but knowing their environment and family background I pray that they won’t fall into the same vicious cycle.
They are so divided as you can see that in PRU13, the professional and Christian Indians voted Pakatan while the poor and Hindu voted BN. At least in BN they are represented in Cabinet despite their dismal result. They are nobody in DAP and PKR. The DAP CEC debacle for instance involved majority Indian that are not being invited to the AGM. In PKR, I don’t see that they are represented at the top level (correct me if I am wrong).
lol, they always have UMNO to blame. So as far as not doing anything to help themselves goes, it is nice to be in a box. Safe and sound, I guess.
“it is nice to be in a box. Safe and sound, I guess”
Everybody wants to say something but Nobody wants to do anything. Just talk to any of your Indian friend and listen them, then you will understand.
Yeah. I see it all the times if we try to help this people will always throw a negative remark. That why I fed up with people who complain a lot but refuse to do something even highlighted the indian plight. Sorry to say this but that include the succesful indian urbanite who percieved the others indian low class and don’t want to associate or help them. Somehow I meet a lot of this type of indian.
:( sarah
re: “Somehow I meet a lot of this type of indian.”
Sarah, they would be very insulted that you’ve called them ‘Indian’.
“They would be very insulted that you’ve called them ‘Indian’”
They are Ceylonese or Serani according to them.
Don’t forget Gujerati.
Malayalee, Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, Malabari
Aaaah yes, the Malayalees.
Were you thinking of Dr KJ John’s declaration that he is not an Indian but a Malayalee?
LOL. So only Tamils are the Indians here lah.
Takpe, less man more share. So in future only Tamils eligible for Indian quota and government allocations … The Malaysian Firsters like Mr Hannah Yeoh don’t qualify.
‘Were you thinking of Dr KJ John’s declaration that he is not an Indian but a Malayalee?’
No. But I guess some people just feel superior over others. So much of hating UMNO for konsep ketuanan.
My father’s cousin was married to a Ceylonese. I never remembered him making a fuss telling people that he is not Malay. You see how it works? These people just don’t get it do they? They need to learn a thing or two from the Chinese.
As for myself, I have special interest on Malayalees and Malabaris anthropology. But that was early last year la.
Pardons me then…. But if they want to stay saperated from this community why they insisted in using the community benefit and allocation and leadership????
:O sarah
Because to people like Mr. KJ John, the idea of being “Indian” as perceived by the mainstream is unacceptable. By making this distinction (however factual it may be) he attempts to separate himself and his community from the image of the “Indian” community.
While I do have some concerns about your post, I do see that you are at least attempting some sort of understanding about the Indian community.
I do think you are relying on the well used canards of the Indian community but on the whole, this is a far more sympathetic post about the community then what normally goes on around here, barring Helen, of course.
“I do think you are relying on the well used canards of the Indian community”
I have dealt with the community at community, academic and professional levels hence the proposed study that I suggested to be taken up by one of them, but none is interested with all sort of excuses. Those are not things I pluck from the air.
Just write down your concern so that it can be a dialogue for the betterment of the community. I don’t want to hear “The Government don’t do this…The Government don’t do that …etc.” all over again. But as a community what have they done to be in sync….
Re: “I have dealt with the community at community, academic and professional levels …..”
Then you would be aware of the numerous studies by MIC (rejected I might add by the CWC) on the issues facing the community, the numerous studies done by certain Chinese academics not to mention the papers written by Hindraf and the HRP and the research papers done by the Indian diaspora published here and in India.
Re:” I don’t want to hear “The Government don’t do this…The Government don’t do that …etc.” all over again”
Why not ? Do you apply the same standards to the Malay community. At the end of the day, the PM himself “apologized” to the Indian community. Federal power as a means of aiding or hampering growth is the most important factor.
What do you mean by in sync ? The Chinese have the economic power while the Malays have the political power. This merely meant that each community in their own way could look after their communities.
But the usual canards I refer to is the popular canard of Indians are not doing enough for their community. Compared to the Chinese neither the Malays nor Indians are doing enough for their communities but the Malays can rely on Federal power whereas the Indians can’t.
For one moment Hindraf was the uniting factor amongst the disenfranchised of the Indian community but by their own doing was blown in the wind. It remains to be seen if W- led faction of Hindraf can repair the damage. So far the rhetoric seems right.
The issue is that “No Action Talk Only” by this community. Let’s deal with one issue at time.
Tell me why is the Sekolah Jenis Tamil is still relevant?
What makes you think it is only no talk no action. A couple of personal anecdotes on your part is irrelevant. You think that just because there are dozens of political parties it means that the community is not united.
There are hundred of rent a causes Malay groups out there but the reality is every community votes along party lines.
With regards to Sekolah Jenis Tamil – all of them are not what you think they are – you are barking up the wrong tree because 1. I do not support vernacular school education and 2. these schools are the least of the problem.
My reply seems to have been lost in the shuffle. Will get back to you later tonight.
Let me add one more development that I notice. The Little India Project in Brickfields has taken place for a couple of years now but guess what “It is influx with Indian from India, and some of the highrise condo are a nest for Northern Indians community (the professional one). One of the condo even has the same Indian laundry and other Indian businesses style, so to speak”.
Foreign Indians is nothing new. They have been coming and brought in by the locals Indians as well for cheap labour. At times these are their relatives from Tamil Nadu. I’ve known this for a fact. I don’t tuduh-tuduh also. So I’m pretty surprised now that some starts to mogok. Why now?
“Foreign Indians is nothing new. They have been coming and brought in by the locals Indians as well for cheap labour.”
Yet they still complain not enough opportunities for them.
And blames UMNO for good effects!
Last year an Indian girl posted in Najib’s FB “Dato Sri, I have been accepted to do Master Degree in Oxford University, can you help?” to that I posted an advert. from maxis for their undergraduate and graduate scholarship. I don’t know her motive but to be accepted by Oxford but with that kind of “brain” really perplex me.
Menyampah betul bila baca komen-komen pasal isu ni. Dari Anon sampai le kepada Otai blogger, semuanya tulis ikut sedap rasa je. Buat komen tampa usul periksa. Bila dah terbukti tersasar, spin macam-macam sampai cerita pun dah jadi lain. Bukannya nak mengaku silap dan minta maaf, tapi adjust cerita untuk jadikan isu lain pulak.
Daripada mula-mula cerita ini keluar sampai le malam ni, aku masih tak dapat cari bawah akta mana yang Guru Besar tu dah buat salah. Ada tak sapa-sapa yang boleh terangkan? Tolong jangan bagi rhetoric, hanya akta dan seksen mana salahnya si Guru Besar.
Terima kasih.
since the canteen is closed, during recess the teachers should take turn and take the student out to eat at some fancy restaurant
yes….and when you do that…Some others would then have a public outcry that the “fancy” restaurant is only halal restaurant withourt any “bak kut teh” in the menu…
And the vicious cycle continues…..
Good One…
Speaking of which. There I was in this hotel, not so mahal, along the bukit bintang stretch having my breakfast.
While waiting for my scramble egg, I overhead someone wearing white cheffie uniform with the white topi was talking to a guy.
A you Singaporean? The Chinese guy asks him.
They guy nodded. I was standing behind this youngster.
I’m sorry we don’t have pork ham here. We only have turkey ham.
and he kept murmur things that I don’t feel pretty to share here.
What the guy did was kind of a put off. As if I wasn’t matter. If you are willing to apologise for the lack of pork to this Singapo lang, who had probably realised that he was in Malaysia, how come you don’t feel the urge to apologise for saying that, knowing we Muslims may not be able to dine at the hotel, should it be serving pork?
Perhaps the guy forgets that he is in Malaysia. I don’t know whether he is local or not. So there you go. Do it make a big fuss and make the guy lose his job? NO.
Farah Asyikin urged people to stop spreading misinformation while her father Mohd Nasir Mohd Noor was being investigated for having pupils eat in a changing room located near a toilet while the school canteen was being renovated –
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2013/07/25/Dont-slander-my-father-pleads-HMs-daughter.aspx
Although there are many questions that need answers, I am sympathetic to her plea. Baseless accusations are unacceptable no matter which side of the divide you are on.
As it is the lack of transparency not to mention lack of accountability in nearly every aspect of government , is fertile breeding ground for the culture of “fitnah”.
This culture makes victims of us all.
Have you read the facebook posting of the parent who complained?
What do you think about it?
Maybe Farah or her father should meet with Guneswary and have a talk.
I have seen it. I thought like most posting it was designed as an appeal to emotion.
To be honest any meeting between them would be used by the Opposition in a negative way. I think the best course of action would be that the Opposition not attempt to milk this for all its worth and the Establishment to have an extremely transparent process.
I do not think this will happen though.
It’s up to the people involved.
Will they attempt to settle problems among themselves amicably? Or would they rather let authorities and politicians use their problems for their own benefits with people being pitted against each other. I think a friendly conclusion is possible, because the whole thing is out of concern of children.
Honestly, I think she could have worded it better. I think her child could have more problems after this if they still stay there without a peaceful resolution reached between the ones involved.
Just let me be optimistic for this one thing.
I agree with you however the pessimist in me believes that this will blow over only to remain in the minds of partisans who will each wield their narratives picking at the scabs of racial tensions in this country.
Not asking for every one in Malaysia to suddenly reconcile and be happy, that’s not going to happen. People can’t be helped but forced to choose sides now when they read and watch the media and interact through the internet and social media. In fact, I wonder what could crop up next.
Just a nice enough ending for the ones actually involved.
Go to all mamak shops, chinese shops, malay shops and indian shops serving food and beverages. What did you notice? Yes,all have toilets just feets away from the dining tables. Anybody complaining? Heck no! They continue enjoying their food. Yet these same people who frequented these food outlets have no qualms at all to spew venoms against the school head without first investigating the truth. Yes! The hipocracies of Malaysians. And the worst would be the politicians who try to maximise mileage at whatever the cost..
I miight be wrong. Pleae correct me. Did you notice that with all the brohaha nobody ask the students (the customers) about them eating in the changing room since March? Apparently, we adults are the ones tearing our hair over the episode.
The Malay Mail aka The Christian Females paper reported:
http://manage.mmail.com.my/story/toilet-makeshift-canteen-61178
And yet the Malays buka puasa there?
Hmmmm. Keeping the narratives intact indeed.
According to today’s The J-Star report, the Malay buka puasa photo was only taken on Tuesday, i.e. possibly only AFTER the uproar broke out on Facebook.
WJ Chan (his comments can be read on this thread) may have been right in saying that the Malays buka puasa photo was staged for the purpose of damage control.
re: “Hmmmm. Keeping the narratives intact indeed.”
The narratives by the school and the principal are not intact but beginning to be full of holes.
They said the toilet-canteen arrangement began in March. The parents and the pupils are saying it only started during puasa month.
Again the commenter WJ Chan may be correct that the size of the toilet-canteen is too small to be of much use for a bigger crowd except to accommodate the one dozen-plus non-Muslim pupils (there are 28 of them spread over the morning and afternoon sessions, it was reported).
(I’m in the midst of replying your other long comment on Hindraf.)
“According to today’s The J-Star report, the Malay buka puasa photo was only taken on Tuesday, i.e. possibly only AFTER the uproar broke out on Facebook.”
According to J-Star’s SOP whatever that can create negative perception and be manipulated is good news to them.
“They said the toilet-canteen arrangement began in March. The parents and the pupils are saying it only started during puasa month.”
It has been used by both Malays and non-Malays prior to that due to the renovation but unfortunately it was extended right after that. Again we are the situation of “he said, she said”.
re: “According to J-Star’s SOP whatever that can create negative perception and be manipulated is good news to them.”
:D
Yup — “he says, she says”. One segment of the population believes what Utusan says and the other believes what The J-Star says.
The J-Star editor tweeted that Utusan prints lies.
Which one do you believe? : )
Interestingly, Seri Pristana was yesterday on the front page of a total of 5 Tamil newspapers. It was a big story for the Indians.
Utusan had the story in the middle pages with no photo.
The J-Star had a provocative front page yesterday with the banner headline “Distasteful”.
Coincidentally, “distasteful” is a word Hannah Yeoh likes to use when she wrinkles her high class nose at the Umno-MIC cybertroopers.
“It was a big story for the Indians.”
The question what are doing about the issue. Even the deputy Minister (An Indian) there is no issue about it. As for me and the Malay Muslim in general it is none issue to us, since it doesn’t affect us.
Shouldn’t the Deputy Minister (being non-Malay and non-Muslim) take a more proactive action to do a study/survey nationwide to see whether this is rampant i.e. Canteen being closed during Ramadhan in Malay majority school. Hence a proactive action can to be taken where parents of non-Muslim students through PIBG voice their concern and say out lout what they want.
I don’t think that a request to open/operate the canteen during Ramadhan is big issue. Unless the canteen operator feels that is unprofitable to do so, but then again “kalau mereka rasa macam tu baik beri orang lain yang meniaga”.
Edit:
The question is what are they doing about the issue
re: “Even the deputy Minister (An Indian) there is no issue about it.”
And for that he is being whacked kaw-kaw by the Indians and oppo supporters. You can imagine the kind of nasty words they’re using on him.
“And for that he is being whacked kaw-kaw by the Indians”
How la to bring changes and help your own community. Tak kan nak salahkan UMNO juga. At least I remember “One House One Professional Initiative” by Samy Vellu did show a good result in the past. But what have the new Indian politicians contributed.
“It has been used by both Malays and non-Malays prior to that due to the renovation but unfortunately it was extended right after that. Again we are the situation of “he said, she said”.”
Since March? Why so long just to install a glass door? Is the door a venetian glass door that must be specially ordered from Italy?
Re: “(I’m in the midst of replying your other long comment on Hindraf.)”
Not that I want to intrude, but whereabouts is this going on ?
https://helenang.wordpress.com/2013/07/20/apa-lagi-cina-mahu-sambungan/#comment-44753
Track backwards from above.
Helen, I posted some comments on this thread, which seem to be missing. Is there a problem ?
No problem.
I was in transit, travelling from workplace to back home and with a detour to pasar ramadan.
Shorter comments were moderated first. Long comments held in queue. I should get to yours in a short while. Now doing LIFO (last in, first out) as it’s the easier direction in which to work on my blog dashbaord.
Sorry for the delay.
I’m just surprised for all the pukes among the pupils, the adults seems to be having their buka puasa session there.
It was bodo indeed if they wan’t to cover up. Hence, keeping the narratives intact, indeed. You know buka puasa dalam ‘toilet’ and all to save some faces, assuming that’s what they did, if it was first and foremost staged.
And yes I have read the WJ Chan comments.
Helen
I do agree with you that it seems that the “bukak puasa” event was staged for “damage control”? Maybe…maybe not…
Why the need for damage control? I dont even think there is any damage in the first place or shall I say any wrong in the first place…
The pupils has already been using the room since March, muslim and non muslim alike… (its up to you to doubt this version)
Now come Ramadhan, I could almost see the HM thinking of continuing the use of the place with two objectives:
1. It is acceptable place to eat which has been going on since March without any complaint what so ever.
2. It also hide them from the majority muslim public who is fasting.
Anything wrong with that? Not to me…
What is wrong is when you disagreeing with the suitability of the place to eat, you start dragging the muslim religion in with:
“adakah ini ajaran Islam” Nabi muhammad terima ke perbuatan begini?”…
which is as someone above rightfully pointed… is the “crux of the matter”.
Sadly she gets away scott free!
Muntah bcoz of the mother’s cooking la
Why lah you so bad … criticize Jagteep Kaur’s cooking?
Heard from the radio this morning, the DJ said, “Malaysians eat at mamak everyday…near filthy toilets…with rats running around…when some kids eat in a changing room..everybody makes a big deal out of it.”
Dear Setem,
For people that eat at ‘dirty Mamak’, they did it out of their willingness knowing the degree of cleanliness of the place.
But for the pupils, they have no choice but were ‘instructed’ by the school management.
I don’t see how you can justify your comparison. It is like comparing an apple with a durian.
Thanks.
There is even a Toilet Bowl Concept Restuarant here in Malaysia fyi. There is one in Sungai Wang Plaza.
Supporters of the headmaster should start a petition in support of him and go to the Toilet Bowl Concept Restaurant in Sungai Wang Plaza to collect their first signatures.
Non Halal la…
(Slap forehead(. What was I thinking? (or rather not thinking/failure to think).
Patrons of the Toilet Bowl cafe not likely the type to want to support the HM in the first place.
I would prefer to see you help the HM raise funds via your 2-million-hits-blog, for him to enlarge the school canteen so that ALL students in the school can eat in peace.
Maybe we can go and check the lady’s house…She sure knows how to complaint didn’t she?
Re: Islamst1 #145
“I’m not your understudy am I?”
You should be, you may learn something.
So saying that the renovations could be done during the Raya break, implies a racial/religious element, huh ? I guess anyone who works during a religious public holiday is being oppressed. Quick someone call SUARAM.
There you go…
I don’t have to learn that. And SUARAM certainly won’t do me any good either.
Did you get to see the level of morals we both differ. I guess if you got friends there, you simply won’t!
There I go where ?
In other words you do think it is oppressive (racial sense) working on a religious public holiday.
I have friends everywhere, SUARAM, UMNO, PR, PERKASA even in the MIC. I’m a people person.
Right. So does the kid with tails behind his back. Did you notice how special he is?
No but unlike you I am not easily impressed but considering your religious sentiment, this is to be expected.
Rawan and Hanuman interests me a lot!
Maybe the explanation on the canteen under renovation “could” be true but as a leader of a school, you should have known and thought of the consequences by putting pupils in changing room having their lunch break. Knowing this is the puasa month, it tend to be sensitive if any complaints are files.
As a head of education, you are lack in being sensitive to allow this to happen. Which means you are not fit to be in your current position to set a good example to the pupils.
Lets assume your intentions were nothing to do with races and religion, with the lack of being thoughtful to the pupils and their parents who leave their children in your hand, you should be taught a good lesson in this incident.
But if your intention is otherwise, I sympathies with you of of doing such mean actions to the pupils in your holly month as no religion would have accepted such bad intention. So whatever reason and explanations were made, conclusion it’s the fault of the headmaster lack of being sensitive and “sufficient basic knowledge” in this multi nation.
Damn the HM. Macam tinggal kat hospital pakar wad kelas 1 dgn toilet adjoining to the room. Kita kena makan dalam wad dgn toilet bersambung dgn bilik wad. Sungguh menjijikkan sekali. Imagine all the bacterias lingering around.
Or if we go and eat at mamak shop or most kedai2 makan with toilet termasuklah McDonald & Pizza Hut at the back adjoining the eating area. Sungguh kotor dan menjijikkan dgn kuman2 berkeliaran. Juga kedai2 makan cina yg mejanya diletak diluar tempat parking dgn habuk2 dan kuman2 berterbangan. Sungguh enak sekali ketika makna. Saya rasa orang ramai sudah kebiasan makan ditempat2 spt ini.
Melihat keadaan didalam bilik persalinan di sekolah itu dgn meja dialas dan lantai bermozek berkilat bersih, huhhh memang menjijikkan spt di tempat2 yg diatas. Semoga diambil teladan.
Some Muslims also pray in ‘changing rooms’ or wards. To them, it is clean enough.
‘Damn the HM. Macam tinggal kat hospital pakar wad kelas 1 dgn toilet adjoining to the room. Kita kena makan dalam wad dgn toilet bersambung dgn bilik wad. Sungguh menjijikkan sekali. Imagine all the bacterias lingering around.’
Yang komplen tu tak pernah admitted kad hospital pakar kelas satu kut. Tak pernah makan kat atas katil dan toilet depan mata. Lagi best kalau sebelah katil. Fuhh, Sehari kat tiga ratus kut!
The “hospital pakar wad kelas 1 dgn toilet adjoining to the room” that you describe is ONE toilet for the use of ONE patient.
The toilet adjoining the Seri Pristana changing room is xy number (I do not know how many cubicles there are — in the school I attended, the toilet complex had maybe 30 cubicles or more in two rows facing each other).
The toilet complex in Seri Pristana is for the use of 1,375 pupils. One parent said her child had complained that the changing room was smelly.
How can you compare the single en suite toilet in a first class hospital room with a toilet complex in a school of 1,375 students>
haiya Helen, ini pagi-pagi wa joking skit lu sudah malah, itu Hindraf surat bila mau jawab?
For your Information, due to space constraint, some people have their iftar just outside the toilet area in Masjid xyz.
I just remember this since I go there. I will try to snap a photo today and email you Helen for you to upload it. Or can someone teach me how to upload it in here?
The Mosque staff does the eating arrangement at that side FYI.
You can e-mail the photo to me. My e-mail reply is in your Inbox, so you have my address.