Both the Kedah exco member for education and police have defended a teacher who allegedly told pupils to drink their urine on the grounds that he was joking.

Exco member Tajul Urus Mat Zain said the teacher yesterday reminded Muslim pupils of their obligation to fast during Ramadan, and asked non-Muslim pupils to avoid drinking in front of their Muslim classmates.

 

The teacher then went on to state that non-Muslim students could ask their teacher’s permission to drink outside of class, and then jokingly told them to drink in the toilet "but don't drink your urine too."

 

"The speech and reminder had been misunderstood by some students and it had became an issue. Police reports were lodged by the (students') next-of-kin.

 

"The teacher involved also received threats via telephone calls to the school and has lodged a police report," he said in a statement.

 

He added that the school also held a special assembly this morning to correct the teacher's statement about drinking urine.

Teacher received threats

Meanwhile, Kuala Muda district police chief Khalil Ariffin also said the teacher was joking.

"The case has been dealt with. This is a misunderstanding. I have met the teacher and the teacher said this was a misunderstanding by the non-Muslim students," he told Malaysiakini .

He added police would take statements from those who lodged the 12 police reports on the matter, but would leave the case to the education department.

Earlier today, a letter purportedly from an unnamed group of parents of non-Muslim pupils at SK Ibrahim, Sungai Petani, had gone viral on various social media platforms.

 

The letter alleged that the teacher who was in charge of student affairs had told non-Muslim students at a school assembly to not to drink water in class but do so in a toilet instead.

 

It claimed that the teacher had gone on to tell students that if they don't have water, they could drink from the tap or their own urine instead.

 

The Ministry of Education has ordered an investigation on the allegations.