May the 13th 2019 - how to douse 3 years of racism in Chinese Primary School in 15 minutes

It is the eve of Merdeka today (30 Aug 2021) and I thought what better way to celebrate the 64th Independence Day then to set the patriotic mood by documenting this next story. As you have probably guessed, I am against racism. Living in Malaysia and brought up in good schools have thought me the beauty of living as 'one race'. I am proud I turned out to be as such, and what's more, on occasions I have been blessed with opportunities to set some records straight with those whom still insist on living the racist world. In this next story, I had to defend Chinese students in a Chinese Primary School from a racist teacher with a history of disciplinary problems. What's more memorable to me about this story is that the whole event took place on May the 13th. If you are Malaysians, maybe you know why this date sounds familiar. I hope you enjoy the story - don't worry, of course it has a happy ending.

'May the 13th' has been the 'boogeyman' horror story brainwashed into the children of that generation who experienced cultural disorder orchestrated by a few irresponsible politicians at that time. In modern Malaysia, majority of the current generations woke up to this and declared ourselves the Malay, Chinese and Indians as 'one'. We don't have problems between ourselves. If any, majority today felt they were born as Malaysians regardless of present race polarization. Over the last 20 years or so, this 'May the 13th' button are pressed less frequent by orthodox politicians here because like any horror movie we know, once you see the 'human' behind that horror make up, the element of fear disappears instantly. The younger generations have seen.

But the act of racism in Malaysia occasionally appear and happen in broad daylight. Thankfully some of these acts have been captured by good Malaysians on video which are uploaded into social media for public to 'trial', which leads to police reports filed, which leads to prompt arrest at best. Sometimes these acts of racism are uploaded by the racists themselves for support but this usually backfires which is nice for us to enjoy with a box of popcorn. Not all acts of racism can be captured by video or social media, however. In this story, the incidences happened at a school in class not between school children but between teachers and the children. 

One fine day, I was approached by a group of mothers from a Chinese 'kebangsaan' school in Shah Alam. Well, I was pleasantly surprised of course. I wondered what had happened until I could be of some help to them. If it was a minister or some civil servant who called, I could guess from the sentiments at that time but this time, I wasn't so sure. So here's what had happened in that school.

A 'Bahasa Melayu' class teacher had been accused of committing 'unprofessional' acts towards their kids. The kids were 10 years old - boys and girls. A long list of accusations were listed down by these parents (some 30-40+ parents in total) - from spitting on the students, to calling them 'babi' (pigs in Malay). The sentiment of the parents were strong - they were ready to take action towards the school and beyond. Some parents were so distraught, they spoke to their Malay friends, and their Malay friends were ready to go to the Department of Education in Shah Alam to file an official report on their behalf. In addition to that, they were ready to go into social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp to spread the news. 

I learn that this teacher had been a 'samseng kampung' (village trouble maker) for some time in that school. And when I heard that, I grinned. I loved these 'samseng kampungs'. My Malay hero, P. Ramlee, illustrated this character very well by creating a movie character called 'Sarip Dol' in one of his famous movies. Why do I love these trouble makers? Because like any bullies in the world, you have to deal with them the traditional way, just like P. Ramlee did. But it was not until the Malay parents, the friends of these Chinese kids' mothers, contacted me that I took the case seriously. I was asked if there was a more effective way to solve this problem than filling a report at Shah Alam and using social media. I said, 'Of course'.

I was asked by the Chinese parents to attend a special meeting they had organized with the school management to see if I could help them and their kids get over this problem. The gravity of the case was nothing short of 'racial', if one false move was wrongly made. That's the nature of living in Malaysia, where polarization existed but tolerated up to an extend. The meeting was organized on May the 13th, 2019. If the drama was not enough, the date made it even more iconic.

I came to the meeting as an observer. I told the headmistress, and their PTA representatives that my role was to 'see why the education system in Malaysia was so bad and received so many complaints'. I shared with everyone my business card with a full fledge titles and recognitions. I also dressed up in full suit - my official uniform for war. The meeting began and everyone spoke in Mandarin! I could understand one or two words of course, but you could read from the body language of the members in the meeting that the meeting was not going anywhere. I made myself looked busy taking one or two notes, for 2 and half hours, listening to both sides of the table speaking in Mandarin. I learned that this Cikgu (Teacher in Malay) had multiple complaints filed about his behavior in class spanning a few years! And I was confused. What could be so hard to fix this problem from the side of the school? Complaints were made, the management could take action or cautioned the teacher, monitor the progress and done deal, right? When issue of race was involved, in Malaysia at least, then no, it was not that easy. I was wondering why too. The answer was 'fear'. And severe lack of training on the professional side on how to handle such issues.

As I mentioned before, for 2 and half hours I listened (and even learned one or two new) Mandarin words between the two sides of the table. And I noticed someone was missing. I asked the headmistress, 'Where is Cikgu XXXX?'. To my surprise, they planned not to call him at all for the meeting. How extraordinary. I told the headmistress that I would surely put this in my report on why the education system in Malaysia was so bad and received so many complaints - which I would send a copy to the Ministry of Education and also to the Prime Minister's Office. I told the meeting I had been sitting in the meeting observing 'you all' talking in Chinese for 2 and half hours - for nothing, and nothing happened in the end. I made a bold demand to SEE this Cikgu XXXX. I said, 'If I call Mazlee right now and tell him how you all handle this situation in your school, what do you think will happen to you within 5 minutes I hang up my phone?'. I took out my phone out to illustrate to the school management how fast the situation can change 'for the better', if they cannot do the right thing right now.

Lo and behold, Cikgu XXXX was paged on the school PA system by the deputy headmistress to come over to the office. When he came to the meeting room 2 and half hours later, my first impression of him was he looked like Cikgu Shaari in a P. Ramlee movie. Or maybe that was just my mind playing tricks again linking ALL 'malay dilemma' issues to the teachings from P. Ramlee movies. Judging from his accent, he was from the east coast of Malaysia. He announced that he was happy to report the status of the students to those parents in that meeting room that day. I told him, 'CIkgu, hari ini masalahnya bukan anak murid Cikgu. Masalahnya adalah Cikgu.'. The whole meeting room went pitched silence - that was the first complete sentence in Malay I uttered after everyone had spoken in Mandarin the whole time.

I asked the headmistress, if she could set the stage why the meeting was called for Cikgu XXXX. To my surprise, her voice was shaking. That's that 'fear'. Dear oh dear. I knew instantly what the problem was with this case. Unless I did something, those kids would continue to be abused, and the case would come out in social media in a matter of hours. I told the headmistress, ' ... if I may.'

I asked Cikgu XXXX whether he understood why he was called in today for that meeting. He said he received a letter of complaint from a group of parents. Conveniently, he took out the letter which he received. I asked him what he thought about the complaints that had been made by the students and their parents in that letter. Conveniently, he read the first complaint. I said 'conveniently' because I didn't have a copy of that letter. He began reading, 'Kesalahan Nombor 1: Cikgu XXXX tidak hadir ke kelas'. He explained to the members of the meeting that he was sometimes ill and so on. Fair enough. 'Kesalahan Nombor 2: Cikgu XXXX selalu tidur di dalam kelas'. This was the Cikgu Shaari part from that P.Ramlee movie. Maybe this Cikgu was a musician also. But no, he explained sometimes he was ill or unwell and could have dozed off but unintentional. He went on reading one by one the items on that list. 'Kesalahan Nombor 6: Cikgu XXXX buang (baling) buku kepada pelajar'. He explained that maybe he was a little upset at that time. My voice raised a pitch, 'Cikgu, dekat mana Kementerian ajar Cikgu boleh baling-baling buku dekat pelajar ni? Cuba tunjuk saya sikit? Saya nak tanya Kementerian kalau betul diaorang ajar cikgu-cikgu mengajar budak 10 tahun macam ni. Saya sendiri kena ambik tindakan supaya benda tu diberhentikan. Jadi kat mana Cikgu belajar benda ni?'. His shoulder began to drop. He said he could be angry at that time that's why he threw the books to the students in anger. And I asked him to read the next one on the list, 'Kesalahan Nombor 7: Cikgu XXXX meludah pelajar ....' . I said, 'Cikgu! Cuba cerita sikit Kementerian mana yang ajar kita macam ni? Saya orang Melayu pun saya marah bila dengar macam ni. Bukan anak saya pun diaorang ni. Tapi meludah ni memang kerja kurang ajar, Cikgu. Siapa ajar Cikgu boleh buat macam ni di sekolah?'. By this time he was broken. I said, 'Baik ... baik ... Baca lagi satu.' He obliged. I looked at the headmistress, and I looked at the PTA representatives - all eyes down on the table. I wished they had done these, not me, years ago. 

'Kesalahan Nombor 8: ... '. He stopped. I told him, 'Baca Cikgu. Baca cepat', while pointing to the letter of complaint. 'Kesalahan Nombor 8: Cikgu selalu panggil kitaorang Babi, Bodoh, Tak ada otak.'. I slammed the table - everyone looked up! I mimic Tun Mahathir during one of his intense meeting about politics at his office in Petronas Towers. I told the meeting, 'This is APPAULING'. I looked at the headmistress and asked, 'This is unacceptable! Why do you let this happen in your school?'. She couldn't say. I took a deep breathe, and looked straight to the Cikgu. ' Cikgu, betul ke Cikgu cakap semua tu?'. Hesitantly, he said he did. I unleashed. I told him, 'Cikgu tau tak cikgu ni memalukan orang-orang Melayu! Cikgu dah la orang Melayu, mengajar Bahasa Melayu, di sekolah Cina, kepada bangsa Cina. Sepatutnya Cikgu mengajar Bahasa Melayu kita dengan bangga dan bermaruah - mewakili bangsa kita yang bersopan-santun, beradat. Ini tidak - panggil budak-budak BABI. BODOH. Apa hal ni Cikgu? Orang-orang Melayu kita yang dengar Cikgu buat macam ni dekat Malaysia (which is true - the Shah Alam parents network were linked to other parents in other states and all knew about this case at that time), semua malu! Cikgu memalukan bangsa Melayu!'. I saw the parents were relieved that the truth came out from the horses' mouth. I continued, 'Cikgu, kesalahan ini, sebagai seorang Guru, adalah sangat besar. Ini adalah kali terakhir kesalahan ini boleh dilakukan di sekolah ini. Cikgu pun dah banyak dapat surat amaran. Jadi saya tak perlu ingatkan lagilah, jika nama baik Kementerian dicemari oleh seorang guru seperti ini, memang saya akan syorkan tindakan tegas diambil tanpa melengahkan masa lagi. Kalau Cikgu faham, cakap sekarang, "Saya faham" '. He replied, 'Saya faham. Saya minta maaf sangat-sangat kerana kelakuan saya. Memang saya bersalah. Perkara-perkara ini tidak akan berlaku lagi'. I looked at him straight in his eyes and replied, 'Alhamdullilah, saya harap pun begitu.'

I stopped my stop watch - my participation in the meeting was officially 15 minutes in total. What couldn't be solve for years was solved in 15 minutes.

By this time, the meeting had proved beyond reasonable doubt, that the complaints made against the teacher was right and the teacher admitted willingly. The next action, would be to see what damage control could be made by the school to remedy the situation. I gave the stage back to the headmistress. The school asked for 1 month grace period to digest the results of the meeting and to come up with solutions to the demands of the parents. One month later the parents were called again, and I was asked to not come into the meeting room (naturally). After the meeting adjourned, all parents came out smiling. They got their demands. I was happy. I was called by the headmistress to her office for a small chitchat. Apart from understanding more about the 'situation' on her side, I left her with newspaper clippings of racism cases involving staff and teachers in Malaysia over the last few years. I explained to her, if only she knew the quality of students that end up in Higher Education institutions later. These students were supposed to get good education in schools before they move on up to universities, but instead they get useless dramas that were beyond their control. I also told her, the school was her responsibility, not the PTA representatives or other political wannabees in her office - so if anything happened to the school, she was solely responsible for it. On that note, we shook hands and I left the school feeling I've done something amazing to help those kids have better days in class. School should be a safe place for kids - not a place to fear. I was happy to contribute here by being a Malaysian.

p.s: A few weeks later I received a report from the parents that the quality of teaching from Cikgu XXXX improved. And that he wouldn't continue teaching the kids from that class the following year. The grades of the Bahasa Melayu class for those affected kids improved eventually. For these kids, I hope they would gradually forget the episode. For me, this is another trophy I love to keep forever especially with the iconic date on it, May the 13th. Doing the right thing needs no permission - and I insist it. It is between me and God (if you believe in one). I fear no man, only God. I always tell people if I see God one day (and that one day will come for sure), what do I tell him if he knew I walked away from doing his assignment? In so many instances, I happened to be at that right (or wrong) place at the right time. And it is always that 'voice of God' that I hear, ' You are up next '. I learned to get excited about it. With honor, I serve.