Unhappy with the way the case of the beaten schoolgirl was being handled by the school, several parents called for a PIBG (or Parents-Teachers’ Association) meeting. The school authorities agreed to have it at 10am on Thursday, 9 July 2015.
However, when they turned up at the appointed time and day, the group was told that it was to be a meeting between the parents/guardian of the girl with the representative from the State Department of Education (JPN). The school’s headmaster and his deputy were present as was a rep from the Department of Orang Asli Development, JAKOA.
The Orang Asli penghulu and some Kelantan Orang Asli Network members were allowed to sit in the discussion. But not the other parents.
The Orang Asli were not happy with this directive as they felt that since it was them who asked for the meeting, they should not be dictated to. The main reason for the meeting, after all, was to find out from the school authorities what action they had taken after knowing about the beating incident. In fact, they also wanted to know when they first knew about the incident.
Seeing that the authorities were not going to budge from their decision, the Orang Asli decided to walk out of the meeting.
One of the Orang Asli reps allowed in, Nasir Dollah, was particularly peeved by the comments of the representative from the Education Department who remarked that he (Nasir) was still young and do not know much!
The group of approximately 40 parents and local activists from 14 villages then gathered at the nearby Kampung Parik and had their own meeting. They discussed the next steps to be taken, including holding of a press conference in KL.
According to the press statement (see earlier note) they drafted, the press conference is also to respond to the information provided by JAKOA to the BFM Radio station that the teachers are denying that the ‘grievous hurt’ incident ever occurred.
COAC | 10 July 2015