Bukit Aman federal police headquarters today recorded the statements of National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) president Tengku Habsah Tengku Petera and secretary-general N Siva Subramaniam.

Both had their statements recorded from 8.30am and were later questioned until about 1.30pm.

When contacted, Bukit Aman public relations officer Supt Jamshah Mustapa said the questioning was to facilitate investigations into NUTPs claim that racial segregation exists in Malaysias national schools.

It is not known whether more officials from the union, with a 105,000-strong membership, will be called to assist in the police investigation.

Federal police launched the investigation following reports by parent-teacher associations of several schools, including SMK Taman Tasik, SMK Dr Burhanuddin Helmi, SRK Kamunting, SRK King Edward and SRK Taiping.

Task force

The investigation is being handled by a task force led by CID legal and prosecution division deputy director SAC I Hashim Sarat.

Police will also consider the findings of the seven-member Independent Committee on Segregation in Schools as part of the investigation under the Sedition Act 1948 and the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

After an eight-week probe, including interviews with headmasters/principals, district education officers, Education Ministry officials, parent-teacher associations and two complainants, the committee found no deliberate attempt or hidden agenda to segregate students along racial lines in the countrys primary and secondary schools.

However, the full report has yet to be released by the ministry and several committee members who were contacted today had refused to be interviewed.

The NUTP, and especially Siva, has been bombarded by threats of disciplinary action, defamation suits and police reports from various quarters including the government, politicians and its own members.