A man of principle would have resigned but then again we are dealing with thick skin

A man who is supposed to be morally upright and fear God is now sticking to his gun not to resign even though he knows his action is against Islam, public interest and hygiene.  This has become habitual in a country like Malaysia. Instead we get his family members asking and demanding the authorities to take action against the parent who brought the matter to public attention. Adding more salt to the wound the parent concern received threat that her daughter would be kidnap and the child was threatened by Teachers and other Malay students from the school.

Interesting enough all the people who are against the parent happens to be MALAY/MUSLIM.  So once again certain Malays are showing themselves to be fucking idiots. 

One of the things that my mum had to do as a principal was to repeatedly remind students to wash their hands after going to the loo and before eating.

The Japanese are known to using mask in public places when they are unwell or having a cold so as not to spread the germs to others.

Koreans are health conscience where everyone uses glove when handling food.

I am happy people like Dr Rafick has spoken.

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I refer to The Malaysian Insider report dated July 26,  2013: “School need not tell everything to parents," says Seri Pristana PTA chief, written by Yiswaree Palansamy.

To be fair to the PTa president, Hussein Mohd Ariff, I am only assuming that what was reported by the reporter was exactly what the PTA president said.

Firstly, let me say that as an ex-PTA president, majority of the PTA members has no clue what PTA is all about and many of them have not seen the PTA constitution.

Going by what was written by The Malaysian Insider, clearly Hussein Ariff has very little clue on what is the actual role of the PTA.

As he is quoted: "The school has the right to choose what it wants to disclose to the parents and this includes the decision to open up the shower room as a makeshift canteen," Hussein told The Malaysian Insider in Kuala Lumpur today. It is not up to us to meddle with the schoto support and raise funds for their programmes."

While there is appropriate regulation that bars the PTA from interfering with the school administration, it does not mean that PTA committee members have to rubber-stamp everything that the school does.

The role of the PTA goes far beyond giving support and raising funds. It should be about ensuring that the school does things that make sense and for the benefit of the children. Had such a proposal been discussed by the PTA, then they should have contributed their views when it makes sense.

It is pure logic that such an idea does not make sense to the average person irrespective of race and religion.

In a PTA, the headmaster functions purely in an advisory capacity. It has no power to push the PTA to accept any suggestions from the school. The PTA committee members should have played a greater role in deliberating such issues and make a formal and clear position of the matter. Parents are equally to be blamed.

Most parents do not even attend PTA meetings. In most schools, during PTA meetings, teachers outnumber parents and there are so many reluctant candidates when it comes to leading the school PTA.

Clearly what is wrong here is that the balance between PTA and school was not there and the PTA is currently reacting to the sensationalised news. No matter how good the headmaster's intentions were, taking such a step does not make sense.

If indeed space is a constraint, they should have done the necessary things to expand the canteen. Worst case scenario, the teacher’s canteen should have been moved into the washroom.

On the so-called renovation, it should have been done during the school holidays. I don’t think changing the door is “very crucial” and it should not take more than 2 days to do such job. My advice to the PTA members, please go back and study the constitution and stop “menegakkan benang yang basah”.

Based on my personal observation, I would be very concerned that the teachers at the school will victimise the child whose parent blasted the news while the PTA chairman's child will get special treatment.

The threat to the child is real. I have seen enough cases in my lifetime. - July 26, 2013.

* Dr Mohamed Rafick Khan reads The Malaysian Insider.

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The SK Seri Pristana issue is now being fought out in Facebook.

The angry parents are on one page while a newer fan page has been launched in support of the school's headmaster Mohamad Nasir Mohd Noor.

More than 1,000 netizens have already thrown their support behind the headmaster in the new Facebook page which was created yesterday.

The page administrator has picked quotes from blogs voicing support for the headmaster while slamming Guneswari Kelly, (as she is known in her Facebook page) the mother of a pupil who uploaded photos showing non-Muslim pupils having their meals in the shower room at recess.

In a posting, the page administrator said the issue has "brought down" a national school, which has a majority of Malay students, and may possibly force a dedicated headmaster to lose his spirit.

The post added that this case was brought about by the mother of a "minority" student who now has gotten the support of the MIC, MCA, DAP, PKR and PAS.

The school explained they resorted to using the shower room as the canteen could not accomodate all the students. Parents, however, are crying foul claiming that the reason given by the school was not true.

Following the outcry, the school shut down the shower room and re-opened the canteen yesterday.

On the Facebook page set up by the group in favour of the headmaster, netizens were defending his actions and sharing blog posts of those who visited the school and found the situation to be contrary to what was alleged.

They also urged the police and the authorities to take immediate action and to "arrest" the individual who reportedly first shared the pictures of the shower room in social media circles which created the media storm.