Directive to record teachers' political leanings withdrawn

The Tawau Education Office today withdrew a directive issued to school principals to record the political leanings and affiliations of their staff members.

The original directive asking school heads to categorise their staff, including teachers, as 'black', 'grey' and 'white' according to their political leanings was a "mistake", district education officer Darman Shah Asakil told Malaysiakini today.

Darman Shah said the directive was a Tawau Education Office initiative and was not linked with the Education Ministry or the Sabah Education Department in any way.

"It was a mistake and the letter should not have been sent. It was written by my staff and I did not check it properly.

"Our intention was merely to advice teachers to focus on their teaching and not to be involved in politics," he said.

His department, Darman Shah added, has issued the circular to all school heads to inform them of the retraction of the original order.

"We will advise teachers, at meetings in the future, on the directives so that these are not misunderstood," he said.

Earlier today, Deputy Education Minister Puad Zarkashi told Malaysiakini that no such directive had been issued by the Education Ministry.

Forms to be 'kept secret'

The March 1 Tawau Education Office directive, signed by Darman Shah, instructed school heads to submit forms with the names, MyKad numbers, rankings, political leanings and political behaviour of all their subordinates.

According to the letter, which is currently being circulated on the Internet, those who are grateful and supportive of the government should be categorised as 'white' while those friendly to the opposition are to be marked 'grey'.

Opposition party members and those who try to influence their colleagues to "hate the government" are to be classified as 'black'.

The directive also instructs school heads to fill the appended forms themselves and to keep the matter confidential under the Official Secrets Act.

Malaysiakini had also earlier this week reported that teachers in Selangor were made to answer a survey, which is believed to gauge their political leanings.

Last year, Johor Education Department director Markom Giran was caught on video, campaigning for the BN in the Tenang by-election.

However, Markom denied the allegation, saying he was merely telling teachers to "support government policies", and that it was his right to identify the political leanings of his subordinates.