KUALA LUMPUR: Police have opened an investigation paper into academician Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Teo Kok Seong over his statement allegedly criticising vernacular schools, the Dewan Rakyat heard today.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the investigation was opened under Section 505 of the Penal Code for public mischief and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
He said this when winding up his debate on the motion of thanks for the Royal Address.
Teo had courted controversy when he allegedly said vernacular schools were a barrier to national unity.
The statement was published on an online portal, Merdeka Times.
He had alleged that 95 per cent of Chinese children sent to Chinese vernacular schools did not want to integrate with the Malays who were the majority in the country.
"The number of vernacular schools must be limited, because they are barriers to national unity.
"These Chinese children only know how to speak Chinese, they cannot interact with other races because they would need to speak in English or in Bahasa Malaysia," he had reportedly said.
Earlier, Lim Guan Eng (PH-Bagan) had said several police reports had already been lodged against the academician in Penang and Kuala Lumpur .
Last week, Teresa Kok (PH-Seputeh) had described Teo's statements as inflammatory towards the Malays and could cause division in the community.
She had also asked the police to investigate Teo for his comments.
On March 9, Merdeka Times owner Firdaus Wong had confirmed that he had been summoned by the police over Teo's controversial remarks, and would be giving his statement at the Brickfields police headquarters this week.