LABUAN: Labuan PKR Chief
Simsudin Hj Sidek yesterday criticized the decision made by the Islamic
Department of Federal Territory (JAWI) to terminate the contract of a teacher
at Sekolah Rendah Agama Islam Rancha-Rancha here.
He asserted that such action
showed Umno leaders here were desperate to retain their power and willing to
use whatever they could think of to pursue their intention.
The teacher, Qatrun Nada
Latfi, a graduate and former student leader at Universiti Malaysia Sabah,
Labuan International Campus (UMS-KAL) was teaching at the school since last
year.
She received a notice from
Labuan JAWI on October 24 to terminate her contract effective December 1
allegedly after she was found attending a public talk by opposition leader
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on September 15 here.
The notice she received did
not state any obvious details and reasons for the action.
“What else you can expect
from democracy if a thing like this can happen? For them, democracy is you must
support them without questions asked. It is clear now with so many proofs of
their desperate actions.
“They tried to stop our
programme when we wanted to set up our branch at Kampung Sungai Labu here, and
they cancelled our booking to use the Foo Chow Hall for the public talk by
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim after we had made a full payment,?he claimed.
“These are among the proofs
that democracy for them is to support them and nothing else,” Simsudin said.
hat is wrong for anyone to
attend a speech or a public talk organised by any political party.
“When Prime Minister Datuk
Seri Najib Tun Razak came here, we also came to listen to his speech, but our
senior opposition leaders did not penalise us for doing so.
“What is wrong if you let
anybody come to listen to any political talk and let them judge for themselves?
“This era is not a time to
force anyone to support you. I feel sad and disappointed that a thing like this
can happen and what is worse is it involved JAWI, which is related to religious
affairs,” he said.
Simsudin commented that JAWI
was supposedly free from any political party influence, likewise the rest of
the government departments.
He urged the government led
by Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) to be responsible towards the victimised
teacher’s fate if they are sincere in their administration.
“I appeal to the people,
especially here on this island to open their eyes on this matter. Today, this
thing has happened to someone’s child and it is not impossible that your
children may receive the same fate like her.
On November 29, members of
Labuan PAS Youth and an NGO called Solidariti Anak Muda Sabah (Labuan) held a
protest at Labuan town and then headed to Labuan JAWI at Financial Park to hand
over their memorandum to the department.
On the same day, Labuan PAS
information chief Hadnan Hj Mohamad, when contacted, said that they had
contacted their lawyer to bring Qatrun’s case to court as she had the right to
defend herself.
“We want to give her moral
support and we will help anyone in need, especially those who are being treated
unjustly,” he said. (BP)
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