MIC treasurer-general S Vell Paari has called for the police to investigate the matter of the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) teaching module under the Sedition Act.

"Inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar has often warned that those who trample upon the religious and racial sensitivities would not be tolerated.

"This is a blatant example of how the sensitivities of Hindus and Sikhs have been trampled upon.

"What makes it worse is that the perpetrators are those responsible for shaping the future generations of Malaysians," he said in a statement today.

Vell Paari said that the vice-chancellor of UTM should not describe their module as having "mistakes" as they were utterly disrespectful, arrogant and bigoted.

He also questioned whether the module was vetted by the academic staff of the university before being used for teaching or was that another oversight.

It is disheartening, he said, that non-Muslims are often at the receiving end of such ugly episodes, and saddening that their children are shown such disrespect in an education institution.

"When there are perceived insults to Islam, there is an uproar and police investigations, even threats of racial violence.

"But when it involves the non-Muslims, it is simply dismissed as mistakes or oversights," Vell Paari (photo) lamented.

Issue an apology and explain

UTM landed in hot water after screenshots of module slides bearing UTM's logo went viral on social media.

The slides showed that UTM students were taught that Hindus preferred to be "dirty", and that the presence of Islam taught former Hindu followers "manners in life".

It stated that "some Hindu followers believe dirt on the body is a form of ritual which could lead to the attainment of nirvana".

Another slide claimed that Sikhism is a combination of Hindu and Islam, but its founder had a shallow understanding of Islam.

The vice-chancellor had later admitted there were mistakes and the module would be "corrected expeditiously".

Vell Paari said he would also be urging MIC president S Subramaniam to raise this UTM issue during the next cabinet meeting, as well as with Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh.

However, he still wants the vice-chancellor to issue an apology and explain how the module received the green light in the first place.

Those responsible for the module should be sacked, he added.

"I find this disgusting, and if the issue is swept under the carpet, with a mere 'admission' and promise to 'rectify the mistakes', then the future of our nation appears bleak," he said.