Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan said a request was made to the police by his ministry to keep racially-charged gang fights in the school from happening again.
“The Seberang Prai Selatan police have decided to adopt the school and will keep a close watch on it.
“A police officer of Indian descent has been appointed to deal with issues that may arise and also keep them at bay,” he said in a press conference yesterday.
Some 100 parents of SMK Bandar Tasek Mutiara in Simpang Ampat protested outside the school recently over racist remarks purportedly made by the secondary school principal and her senior assistant.
Parents also claimed the racially-charged gang fights were also commonplace, with two boys hurt in an incident two weeks ago.
Parents of both pupils have lodged police reports.
Police have confirmed receiving the reports and said an investigation for rioting was ongoing.
Deputy Chief Minister P. Ramasamy, also DAP assemblyman for Perai had demanded that the racially-charged fights be investigated immediately.
He had said the school’s principal and her senior assistant were purported to have stoked racial tension with remarks during the school assembly after the fights took place.
He said they had been alleged to have said there was “no place for Indians in this school” and that Indian pupils were told not to pick fights with pupils of other races.
Ramasamy also called on authorities to reinstate two students who were wrongfully expelled over the fight.
He claimed the victims were suspended from school while the assailants got away scot-free.
To this, Kamalanathan said the expelled students could appeal to have them reinstated.
On Ramasamy’s call to have the headmistress and her senior deputy to be let go, Kamalanathan said it was not possible.
He said the two were found to have done nothing wrong.
“Who is Ramasamy to call the shots?We cannot punish people if there is no wrongdoing.
“We have already transferred them. Now, we have to find solutions and not to be dictated by someone else,” he said.