KOTA KINABALU: The culture of fear within SMK Taun Gusi, Kota Belud over the teacher absenteeism scandal was so strong that a witness was told to be careful of his safety when highlighting the matter.
The school's English teaching assistant (ETA) Ibrahim Jadoon said the problem of teacher absenteeism was getting worse prompting him to speak to the District English Language Officer (DELO), Bees Satoh about the matter in June 2015.
"She said that 'guru ponteng' is not an ETA problem, it is the school administration problem. She surprisingly told me to be careful for my safety, implying that there's a risk to my life for talking about this issue followed by a commitment or request that I do not tell any other people that I've blown the whistle."
Ibrahim was testifying before High Court Judge Datuk Ismail Brahim in the trial of a suit brought by the school's former student, Siti Nafirah Siman, against her former English teacher, Mohd Jainal Jamran.
To a question under examination-in-chief by counsel Shireen Sikayun, Ibrahim said Bees who was also the district ETA liaison had already known about the scandal through a Sabah education officer.
"She claimed that the state Education Department would take action and thanked me for informing her about it."
Ibrahim said he thought that the scandal plaguing the school would end with disciplinary action when Education Ministry officers went to the school in August 2015.
However, he said that Bees told him not to tell anyone because if the scandal got exposed, things would get violent.
"This implied to me that not everyone is playing on the same team in the education system and these people might take negative actions. Because of this, I was afraid that the students would be shocked or scared to openly talk about this to the KPM officers," he said, adding that he had three separate conversations with three different officers who went to the school.
In the suit filed on Oct 30, 2018, Siti Nafirah had named Jainal as the first defendant. The other defendants are Suid Hanapi (then principal of SMK Taun Gusi), the Kota Belud district education officer, Sabah education director, education director-general, education minister and the government.
Senior federal counsel Jesseca Daimis and federal counsel Mohd Fazriel Fardiansyah Abdul Kadir acted for the defendants.
The trial will resume on Monday.