By P Ramasamy
The five-member panel set up by Universiti Malaya (UM) to investigate the alleged racism of one of its lecturers might prove to be an exercise in futility.
Earlier reports of racism in public institutions against lecturers and staff have gone unpunished. Given this, the public might not have confidence in the panel satisfactorily investigating and consequently punishing the lecturer if found to be guilty.
Deputy Education Minister, P Kamalanathan apparently referred the matter to the Vice Chancellor (VC) of UM, Prof Dr Amin Jalaluddin, who in turn promised to investigate the matter by the appointment of this special committee.
Kamalanathan has a rather poor record in taking up issues affecting Indian students particularly those relating to racism and ethnic discrimination in schools and public universities.
The matter would not have come to public attention if not for one of the affected students posting online a written piece entitled “Voice of an Indian student”. To date, the post has garnered over 12,000 likes and been shared over 9,000 times.
The student revealed that the lecturer concerned barred the writer and his friend from sitting next to each other in class, saying that Indians were proven to copy and plagiarise assignments.
She said in Malay, “India, saya tak suka India duduk bersama-sama lepas itu akan tiru assignment dan plagiarise. Saya kenal India.” (Indians, I do not like Indians sitting together because they will copy assignments and plagiarise. I know what Indians are like.)
She also pointed to a student wearing a red shirt and said, “You, baju merah, duduk depan sekarang”. (You, in the red shirt, sit in front now.)
She then went on to say, “Saya akan pastikan awak dan kawan awak tak akan dapat kumpulan sama untuk buat assignment. Saya tahu India macam mana.” (I will make sure you and your friends are not in the same group for assignments. I know how Indians are.)
She also began insulting other Indian students in the class.
This is not the first time such an incident has taken place as many other instances of racism have occurred in the past.
My question is, what is Kamalanathan going to do about this matter rather than having a “sweet” chat with the vice-chancellor. The number of cases of teachers and lecturers belittling Indians in schools and institutions of higher learning have gone up at an alarming rate.
Kamalanathan, a CWC (Central Working Committee) member of MIC, a party said to be the sole representative of Indians in the country, is acting like a civil servant. He should behave like a people’s representative and take up issues without fear or favour. If he can forgive an Umno member for slapping him, what can Indians expect of him?
The Indian community cannot be deluded in thinking that the alleged lecturer will be punished. This will never happen.
What the lecturer said is just the tip of the iceberg. Over the years, public universities have become hotbeds of racism and religious intolerance. Racism and religious intolerance is part of the system. If Umno can bully and belittle MIC leaders, then I think it is possible for others to do the same.
Kamalanathan is a clown and Indians don’t take him seriously as he is merely a “slave” to Umno leaders.
P Ramasamy is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang.
With a firm belief in freedom of expression and without prejudice, FMT tries its best to share reliable content from third parties. Such articles are strictly the writer’s personal opinion. FMT does not necessarily endorse the views or opinions given by any third party content provider.