Education Minister Apologises To Indian Community Over Tamil Song Ban

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PARLIAMENT | Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek has apologised to the Indian community over an erroneous ban on traditional Tamil songs from being performed at a national Tamil language carnival hosted by her ministry.
She said the incident should not have happened.
"I take this opportunity to take full responsibility and express my deepest regrets.
"The Education Ministry would like to apologise to the Indian community, especially those hurt by the situation and over the technical communication error, and whatever happened at that event," she said in her winding-up speech at the Supply Bill 2024 committee stage debates.
Last week, there was an uproar after two Tamil songs were banned from the Tamil language festival.
The two songs were 'Kadavul Valthu', a worship song, and 'Tamil Valthu’, which is a song about the Tamil language.
Also banned from the event were banners featuring Tamil literary and philosophical figure, Thiruvalluvar.
Lawmakers including P Prabakaran (Harapan-Batu), R Yuneswaran (Harapan-Segamat) and RSN Rayer (Harapan-Jelutong) raised the matter in Parliament today while debating the Education Ministry's portion of Budget 2024.
No repeats
Fadhlina said there was no intention to sideline any race and assured the matter would not recur.
"This shouldn't have happened. For your information, the song ‘Tamil Valthu’ will be performed at a Deepavali celebration on Nov 29 in Penang so that it can be appreciated by all educators there, no problem.
"I give my assurance that this incident will never happen again in the future," she added.
She also said that stern action had been taken against the officer responsible for the incident, but did not elaborate.
In thanking the minister for her response, Prabakaran also urged the ministry to look into other "sensitive matters among Indians" including current regulations that prevented Hindu students in Tamil schools from wearing the "vibhuti" (holy ash) on their forehead.
- Mkini

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