Parent lodges report over school video

By KAREN CHAPMAN and TAN EE LOO

PETALING JAYA: A parent lodged a police report against a school here for allegedly showing an inappropriate video clip to Muslim pupils during an extra-curriculum religious education programme.

Intan Sabrina Mohamad said her eight-year-old son was terrified on Thursday after watching the 20-minute video clip that had explicit images of a corpse.

She said her son’s religious teacher had allegedly inflicted fear in the pupils by telling them, “you need to pray or this will happen to you”.

“My son said he’s seen hell and cried when I tried to put him to bed on Thursday night,” said the boy’s father Michael O’ Leary.

He said the video clip should have been scrutinised by child psychologists to evaluate its impact before being shown in school.

The video clip allegedly shows scenes of funeral services and a corpse wrapped in white cloth with effects of thunder and lightning.

It said Sajak Kematian (Poem of Death) at the bottom of the clip.

Intan Sabrina, a rehabilitation physician, said her son told her some pupils cried after watching the video.

“I want the school to stop showing the video clip to the children,” said the mother of two.

Intan Sabrina said a parent-teacher association meeting would be held Monday to look into the matter.

She lodged a police report at the Damansara Police Station on Friday morning.

According to the police report, a religious teacher had said he did not have to submit the video for scrutiny.

It is learnt he refused to withdraw the video.

Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein has instructed his officers to get to the bottom of the matter.

“If it is true, it is crazy,” he said when contacted.

Ministry director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom said officers would visit the school next week and asked parents to write to him so he could investigate the matter.

Malaysian Examinations Syndicate director Datuk Dr Salbiah Ismail clarified the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination would be from Tuesday to Dec 5.

The Star Online:8 November 2008