Press Statement
by DAP Secretary General and MP for Kota Melaka, Kerk Kim Hock
after lodging a Police Report against Datuk Ibrahim Ali at Kuala Lumpur Tun HS Lee  Police Station
at 1.15pm on Thursday, 10.10.2002

Police report against statement inciting racial hostility by UMNO leader

I have today lodged a police report against Datuk Ibrahim Ali, the UMNO Pasir Mas Divison Chairman, for making statements which have a tendency to promote ill feelings or hostility among the different races in the country. 

In an article titled "Cina DAP Hasut Cina MCA Jangan Setuju Guna Bahasa Inggeris" that has appeared in the UMNO on line –official website of UMNO-- Ibrahim Ali has not only made baseless allegations against the DAP, he has also made statements which are calculated to promote ill feelings or hostility among the different races. 

His allegation that the Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties have not supported the government’s proposal to teach Mathematics and Science in English is due to the influence of the Chinese DAP does not warrant any rebuttal, as this is certainly a statement that will not be supported by the BN component parties themselves.  

However, paragraphs 2 to 6 of the article which read as follows are not only baseless statements which can gravely hurt the feelings of the Chinese community, they are in fact seditious and are clear infringement of the 1948 Sedition Act.  

Ketua Umno Bahagian Pasir Mas, Datuk Ibrahim Ali mendedahkan, kegusaran kaum Cina dengan cadangan kerajaan itu kerana bimbangkan pelajar mereka yang selama ini menggunakan bahasa Cina dalam peperiksaan di periksa oleh guru Melayu dan sekali gus membongkarkan tektik mereka dalam memberi markah atau keputusan kepada pelajar mereka. 

 

Menurut Datuk Ibrahim, beliau menyedari kenapa kaum Cina dalam komponan menentang penggunaan Bahasa Inggeris adalah disebabkan kemerosotan keputusan peperiksaan yang dicapai pelajar mereka terutama yang menggunakan kertas Bahasa Cina diketahui oleh umum. 

 

Selama ini, hanya guru Cina sahaja yang memeriksa kertas berbahasa Cina dan demi mempertahankan statusnya, mereka terpaksa melulus cemerlangkan pelajar berkenaan walaupun pada dasarnya ia tidak lulus. 

 

Kita orang Melayu tidak tahu berbahasa Cina dan apabila keputusan diumumkan, pelajar Cina lebih cemerlang daripada pelajar Melayu. Sedangkan hakikatnya mereka bukanlah cemerlang sangat sebagaimana diumumkan. 

 

Oleh itu, mereka ini bimbang kalau Bahasa Inggeris digunakan bagi  semua kertas pelajaran, tembelang pelajar mereka yang kurang bijak akan pecah Ini kerana semua kertas peperiksaan itu akan diperiksa oleh guru Melayu, guru Cina dan guru Tamil. 

 

Dengan ini, mereka tidak boleh menipu kerajaan sebab semua bangsa  guru yang menyemak kembali kertas itu mengetahui perkara sebenar. 

The following two paragraphs of his statements are also clear attempts to incite the Malay feelings by manipulating the government’s proposal. 

Tanpa Bahasa Inggeris, hidup kita ibarat katak bawah tempurung dan  mudah ditipu oleh bangsa lain. Begitu juga, kalau kita tidak tahu berbahasa Cina dan apabila kita berdepan dengan orang Cina, kita tidak tahu mereka mengutuk kita walaupun secara berdepan. 

 

Apabila orang Cina ketawa, kita pun ikut ketawa sama, sedangkan kita tidak tahu mereka ketawa kerana mereka telah menghina kita. Mana kita tahu. Begitu juga dengan Bahasa Inggeris, kita tidak tahu orang mengutuk kita dalam percakapan Bahasa Inggeris.

As such, I have lodged a police report to call on the Police to immediately carry out a full investigation under the 1948 Sedition Act and to take the necessary action against Datuk Ibrahim Ali. 

Section 3 (1) (e) of the 1948 Sedition Act reads:

“A seditious tendency is a tendency to promote feelings of ill will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Malaysia. “

Section 4 (1) of the Act provides that “ Any person who  

(a) does or attempts to do, or makes any preparation to do, or conspires with any person to do, any act which has or which would, if done, have a seditious tendency;

 

(b) utters any seditious words;

 

(c) prints, publishes, sells, offers for sale, distributes or reproduces anyseditious publication; or

 

(d) imports any seditious publication,

 

shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable for a first offence to a fine not exceeding five thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to both, and, for a subsequent offence, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years; and

 

any seditious publication found in the possession of the person or used in evidence at his trial shall be forfeited and may be destroyed or otherwise disposed of as the court directs.

In order to prevent irresponsible politicians from playing with fire by manipulating the issue of teaching mathematics and science in English, I urge the Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Norian Mai to give his personal attention to this report lodged by me

I also wish to hereby reiterate DAP ‘s call to the government to convene a roundtable conference of all political parties to achieve a national consensus on the best and least divisive way to raise the standards of English, Mathematics and Science in schools and universities.