'Drink urine' episode raises concern among Sabahans
Published on: Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: First, pupils were told to spend their recess in the toilet. Now they are told to drink their own urine when tap water is not available. Sabahans were clearly affected by these remarks although all these happened in the peninsula in this fasting month. The drink-the-urine episode, however, raised the most concern among local parents here who questioned the ability of some educators to communicate with children of various backgrounds.
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A majority of Sabahans agree that while parents are expected to teach their children to respect the religion of others, they also want teachers to be mindful of the things they say. Social media has been abuzz after a senior assistant of a high-performance cluster school in Kedah allegedly told non-Muslim pupils that they can drink their own urine if tap water is not available during an assembly last Sunday. A teacher and parent, Suzanah Saidi, 37, said teachers especially should not be so insensitive. Suzanah, who has a kindergarten-going daughter, said it was her daughter's non-Muslim friends who had come forward and chided others eating in front of her fasting daughter, recently.
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"They had so much respect and were aware of the significance of this fasting month," she pointed out. "And this comes automatic during fasting month where the non-Muslims will respect those who are fasting. It is a high sense of respect for one another that exists here," she said.
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Muslim convert Sabrina Joseph said the same empathy was shown by her non-Muslim teachers who took their lunch inside the teacher's staff room, away from the sight of their fasting colleagues. "As I entered the office, they straight away apologised and immediately opened the windows to drive away the smell of the food inside the room," said Sabrina, who is also a teacher. Although Kedah State Education, Transportation and Public Works Committee Chairman Datuk Tajul Urus Mat Zain had clarified the about 50-year-old primary school senior assistant's speech was misconstrued, many were still unforgiving."What he said was jangan minum air kencing kamu pula (don't you instead drink your urine, which was misinterpreted by the pupils," said Tajul. But Jeffrey Chin said many educators have lost the true spirit of teaching and 'talk rubbish' to students."As educators, they should be exemplary individuals...if the school takes such incident lightly, what is the message we are leaving to our children?" he asked. "The school is the important foundation of the society. If our standard is low, then our community will be low. Don't expect us to strive and compete with the world with that kind of joke flying around during assembly," he added. Aries Micheal felt that one must be professional especially when making a speech during school assemblies, adding that teachers, however, can be good friends to students off school hours. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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