The decision of a senior teacher in a Sungai Petani, Kedah primary school to remind non-Muslim students under his care not to drink in front of their fasting Muslim schoolmates by jokingly making a reference to them drinking their own urine has provoked the ire of Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan.
In a terse Facebook post to his personal account, Kamalanathan stressed his extreme disapproval of the teacher’s conduct:
Yesterday, Kamalanthan had already vowed to investigate the matter, and now he seems prepared to reinforce his words with stern action.
Malaysian social networks went beserk yesterday with an image of a collective complaint letter decrying the act of a senior teacher telling non-Muslim primary school students to drink water in the school toilet during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
The letter alleged that the offending teacher also told the primary school kids to drink the tap water in the toilets, or if they couldn’t do that, to just “drink their own urine”.
Later yesterday, Kedah exco in charge of education Tajul Urus Mat Zain tried to defuse the situation by putting out a statement saying the teacher in question was merely joking, and that his “lighthearted” reminder for non-Muslim students not to drink in front of their Muslim friends was “misunderstood”.
It remains to be seen which holds out in the end: the defensive stance of the Kedah state government’s representative, or the federal ministry’s vehement response.
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