A security guard at a Shah Alam educational institution has reportedly been sacked for using the racial slur keling against a group of Indian students.

At least two handphone videos of the institution’s staff negotiating for an apology from the guard had gone viral on the internet as a result of the students’ efforts to publicise the incident.

One of the videos garnered 13,000 hits at the time of reporting. However, no video of the alleged incident itself has surfaced.

The term keling is considered derogatory to the Indian community.

In a statement today, MIC treasurer-general S Vell Paari reported the guard involved has since been sacked.

“The polytechnic has sacked the security guard.

“This will be good lesson to those corrupting national harmony among Malaysians,” he said, after a group of MIC state leaders visited the institution involved.

Video of confrontation circulated

While specifics of what transpired during the incident are unclear, it can be gathered from various brief accounts on social media that the Indian students had asked for permission from the security guard to stay on at the school to work on their project.

While working on their project another security guard apparently confronted them on what they were doing there, and allegedly called at least one of them keling , to which the student took offence.

This led to another student asking for an apology, which the guard apparently did not entertain civilly.

An exchange of words followed, and the institution's representatives who were alerted of the incident subsequently showed up to mediate.

The use of the derogatory term has often caused controversy in the past, for example during the prolonged issue surrounding the school textbook Interlok that the Indians had found insulting to their community.