Having exhausted all avenues locally, a group of parents from Sungai Bakap Tamil primary school in Penang have written a complaint letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR).

Led by Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia state chairman K Kalayselvam, the parents accused the government of serious violations of its own supreme stipulations in the Federal Constitution.

Explaining the details of the letter sent to the UNCHR commissioner Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, Kalayselvam said the federal government “feels no compulsion” to address the situation.

The letter sent yesterday has also been copied to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, and UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon ( photo ).

The letter was received by UNCHR officer Devendra Patel in Kuala Lumpur.

Kalayselvam said the school has been in a state of disrepair and near collapse for over 58 years, since independence.

Therefore, the community’s specific complaint is that this is all systematic and a result of the “racially-slanted” policies of the government, he added.

Land school sits on is privately owned

This is where the minority Indian poor in Malaysia continue to be considered “second- or even third-class citizens”, Kalayselvam said.

“This is much like the coloured and black people under the South African regime in the heydays of apartheid,” he said.

The school had been totally denied funds, leaving it in such condition, with rickety classrooms, no library, no playing field, no proper canteen, and no proper toilets, Kalayselvam added.

“Structures are falling apart, the children sit in sultry, hot, and unsafe classrooms.

“Even the land the school sits on is privately owned and the owner now wants the land back, aggravating the pressure on the school,” he lamented.

Kalayselvam ( photo ) said the school is but one example of the 370 partially-aided Tamil primary schools throughout the country, whose fate is not much different.

He believes the young children derive their self images from these schools, and the systematic denial is “intentional”.

“What better way can there be of demolishing self-image and subordinating a working class minority, starve them of their dignity and cause them to believe they are not deserving of it?

“In this sense the deprivation hits the future of the entire minority Indian community in Malaysia at the core,” he added.  

“It is not just about brick and mortar, it is about the future of a marginalised community.”

Kalayselvam said it is ironical that Malaysia, a member of the UN Human Rights Security Council could perpetrate such gross violations of the UN’s fundamentals, in its backyard.

He added that Malaysia, a signatory to key UN conventions, has treaty obligations to observe these conventions which promote equality in dignity and rights, right to education, and protects the rights of the child from discriminatory policies.