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Fran Lu

A secondary school teacher in Malaysia has been placed under investigation after insulting a student for not understanding Malay and asking him to “go back to China”.
The incident went viral after an audio clip of a phone call between the teacher and a man, who said he was a relative of the student, was posted online.
The man asked the teacher if she had called the student “stupid”, and asked him to sit next to the dustbin and the teacher confirmed she had.
She said she punished the student because he did not understand what she said in Malay.
She also admitted to the man that she told the 13-year-old student that he and his parents should “go back to China” for not understanding Malay.

The teacher who works at a school in Perak state in western Malaysia said she had worked at other secondary schools but never met with such communication barriers.
The audio sparked controversy in Malaysia, according to Malaysian Chinese newspaper Kwong Wah Daily.
Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country, with most of its 34 million population being Malay, and about 20 per cent of its citizens of Chinese ethnicity.
According to locals, it is normal that a Chinese Malaysian does not speak Malay very well, despite Malay being the country’s only official language. Instead, English is more valued in their education.
Some also reported deteriorating Malay skills following their studies in Taiwan, where Mandarin is mostly spoken.
Malaysian students formed the largest source of Southeast Asian students in the region for years until 2019.
The teacher also revealed without hesitation that it was not the first time she told off a student who did not speak or understand Malay.

She also threatened the man with the police for invading her privacy, claiming that her husband is a police officer that could easily track him down.
As the case went viral, the teacher was reported on March 20 to have admitted her indiscretion to the school, and planned to apologise to the students’ parents.
The Malaysian Education Ministry had also initiated an investigation into the matter, a spokesperson told Free Malaysia Today.
The ministry said it does not tolerate any form of racial statements or actions within the education system, and stressed that government educational institutions must be safe, inclusive and respectful of the diverse racial, religious and cultural backgrounds of students.
The ministry had also offered support for the student and his parents.


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Shock as Malaysia teacher tells ‘stupid’ pupil struggling with dialect to ‘go back to China’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Teacher tells complaining relative of abused student that she would call police to track him down because he had ‘invaded her privacy’

Teacher tells complaining relative of abused student that she would call police to track him down because he had ‘invaded her privacy’