Pupils forced to eat in shower room, Ministry to probe

T K Letchumy Tamboo
July 23, 2013 18:14 MYT
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has initiated investigations into the shocking incident of non-Muslim pupils of a school, who were allegedly told to eat in a shower room cum changing room during recess to not offend fasting Muslims.
In a twitter posting about two hour ago, Muhyiddin, who is also the Education minister, said he had instructed the ministry’s Director General Tan Sri Abdul Ghafar Mahmud to probe the allegations.

Saya telah mengarahkan KPPM utk siasat isu pelajar bukan Islam yg disuruh makan di dalam tandas. Tindakan tegas akan diambil jika ada asas

— Muhyiddin Yassin (@MuhyiddinYassin) July 23, 2013
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The allegations were first spread in Facebook when disgruntled parents of Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Pristana’s non-Muslim students, posted pictures of their children’s saddening predicament.
The pictures show several students eating and drinking in a small room, away from the eye of the public. The room has several shower stalls and the parents labelled the room as a toilet.
Apparently, the shower room is located next to the school's toilet.
As soon as the pictures went viral, Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan, in a series of twitter, condemned the act, labelling it as an inappropriate move, as the school could have appointed a temporary canteen operator during Ramadhan.

SK Seri Pristina; have requested the school to immediately remove the temporary eating place from the changing room (it has been done now).

— P Kamalanathan (@PKamalanathan) July 23, 2013
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SK Seri Prestina; have also requested BPSH Department 2 investigate why such a decision was made n why action should not b taken.

— P Kamalanathan (@PKamalanathan) July 23, 2013
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SK Seri Prestina; it is not d right thing 2 do; d school could have appointed a temp. canteen operator 2 run the operations during Ramadhan.

— P Kamalanathan (@PKamalanathan) July 23, 2013
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SK Seri Prestina: if the canteen is under renovation, a proper place should have been identified, surely not the 'changing room'.

— P Kamalanathan (@PKamalanathan) July 23, 2013
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SK Seri Prestina; in the first place the entire episode should not have happened.

— P Kamalanathan (@PKamalanathan) July 23, 2013
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SK Seri Prestina; The Ministry views such issues with gravity and will surely take stern action to ensure its not repeated.

— P Kamalanathan (@PKamalanathan) July 23, 2013
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V welcome feedback from d public 2 aid us in d process of eliminating callous action......

— P Kamalanathan (@PKamalanathan) July 23, 2013
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......... that might occur n ensuring d well being of our students r our top priority.

— P Kamalanathan (@PKamalanathan) July 23, 2013
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Earlier, he spoke exclusively to Astro AWANI when met in Dewan Negara, stressing the same point.
Meanwhile, the Selangor State Education Department director Mahmud Karim, has vehemently denied the allegation.
In what seem like a defensive move, Mahmud said the school had arranged for a changing room for the students to eat in, instead of the toilet.
Meanwhile, raged Malaysian public took to the social media to express their anger over the incident.

Why are canteens with Muslim operators closed during puasa mth? Muslim cant work during puasa?

— H4J1 Tak Dpt Bail (@Art_Harun) July 23, 2013
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Letting the non-muslims eat at the toilet just because of Ramadan is not a good idea. Let them eat as usual. Its one of the test from Allah.

— Achaner Tu Diaz? (@diazwann) July 23, 2013
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Sek Keb Seri Pristana gave their toilet to non-muslim students to have their meal time. Brilliant way to force people to "respect" Ramadhan

— Inbaraj ™ (@Inbarajs) July 23, 2013
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Nak respect pun berpadalah, takkan smpai nak paksa makan dalam toilet. -.-

— Emir Aiman (@emyraiman) July 23, 2013
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Worst action made by the school: letak students non muslim mkn dlm tandas. How unfair and stupid

— Red calligraphy pen (@ezzgeek) July 23, 2013
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#break fast #changing room #Ramadan #students #toilet
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