AS the dust settles on the issue of racial-religious discrimination at a high-performing school in Malaysia, the Education Ministry (MOE) appears to have erred in more ways than one. Inadequacies on “communication” – the MOE itself seemed to admit – were definitely part of the reason why the issue blew up in the first place. 

At the heart of the issue was the action of the principal of a secondary Infant Jesus Convent school in defending what has come to be publicly touted as a “Muslim-only workshop” for Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) students. At least one parent, with the support of others, moved to “question the school’s administration over the matter” but she was apparently labelled “a racist for turning this into an issue”. This occurred even after it was discovered that the contents of the SPM workshop were not only on religious studies but other subjects such as Chemistry and Additional Mathematics. The head of the Parent-Teacher Association then proceeded to shut down the conversation after the apparent leak from the WhatsApp group chat.

Regardless, the most important “leak” appears to have happened internally from either the parents or the students of the first workshop, which alerted other parents on the other subjects being revised. Malaysian equal rights advocacy group Pusat Komas lamented the inaction of the newly minted Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek, who first reacted by leaving it to the Johor Education Department as the matter was under its purview. Fadhlina is a politician from PKR, whose leader Anwar Ibrahim now heads the unity government of Malaysia. Her decision was criticised as “disappointing” and “akin to shrugging off her responsibility of promoting unity at the school level.” As one observer noted, “Fadhlina had the power to summon the principal and the state education director immediately to explain to her why that was done.”

In the specific case of the allegations of racial-religious discrimination at the school, the general definition of institutional racism by the UK’s 1999 Macpherson inquiry despite the varying circumstances seems relevant here. Institutional racism, it notes:

• The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people.

A statement by the MOE following an investigation by Johor authorities thus concluded that there was no discrimination against SPM candidates and that the school had in fact planned a separate SPM workshop for students who did not attend the first one, which was held separately to “prevent disruption to candidates who were preparing to celebrate Chinese New Year.” This statement flew in the face of what the public already knew from the widely available screenshots of the principal’s WhatsApp messages, which argued that “in the trial exam the overall achievement did not reach 100% compared with SPM 2021.” She continued that the “achievement of Malay students was very worrying” and therefore “we don’t want the achievement of Malay students to become the cause of Convent’s downfall in SPM 2022.” The authenticity of the screenshots has not been disputed.

The screenshots came to public knowledge after restrictions were internally imposed on the WhatsApp group. Even allowing for intra-group candid conversations and the fact that this exchange was not meant for public consumption, the MOE’s failure to take into account what had by then become public knowledge left both the public and some of the parents themselves feeling incredulous.

A statement by several members of the PTA, while thanking the Johor district office and state education department for facilitating a meeting on January 25, found that statements from both the MOE and the school principal were inconsistent. 

The blame was thus laid squarely at the door of inadequate communication rather than racial-religious discrimination. Bearing in mind that this was the second opportunity to address the issue, after the alleged responses by the school’s principal to the parents, the MOE’s statement itself smacks of a failure to adequately communicate or address the issues. Some observers and social media users have assumed worse, that it smacks of a cover-up. These are serious accusations openly levelled against a public institution charged with the responsibility of educating Malaysia’s young, what more an institution that has overtly assumed a position in the teaching of faith and morals.

In the wake of these allegations the local head of Sisters of the Infant Jesus, Malaysia, reminded all and sundry that for mission schools, “our emphasis has always been holistic education which incorporates not just academic excellence, but co-curriculum participation and character formation.” Our philosophy, she continued, “is based on unity and education for all, irrespective of race or religion emphasising the promotion of justice and peace.”

The issue of discrimination aside, one truly sympathises with any head of a high-performing school in Malaysia’s education system today, who will get blamed if the school pupils do not do well in SPM. It is a symptom of an education system that does not adequately prize values other than academic achievement.

A second statement issued by some members of the PTA on January 29, said that “those involved have now apologised,” while highlighting what appears to be an admission by the powers-that-be that there “was no due process in the approval and organisation of the SPM workshop.” Fadhlina followed up on this by also proclaiming that the issue had been amicably resolved and that they did not want to prolong the issue, as the students have to focus on SPM. This resolution was commendable as far as the local community was concerned. It was extremely helpful – though not mandatory in cases like this – that these members of the PTA, going by the look of their personal names, appear to represent a cross-section of Malaysia’s multiethnic society.

The statement also noted that “the flow of information must be transparent and made known to all, across the board.” That lesson might be something that Malaysia needs to learn at the national level as well. One might add, for the benefit of all and sundry, that the moral value of telling the truth is timeless and cuts across all faiths and generations.

It is long past the stage in Malaysia where one can sidestep difficult issues and thread the path of caution by speaking half-truths. – February 17, 2023.

* Sanen Marshall is an exco of the Malaysian Academics Movement.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.