By Dyana Sofya, Political Secretary to DAP Parliamentary Leader Lim Kit Siang

Malaysiakini recently reported that a teacher who posted my campaign poster during the Teluk Intan By-election on her Facebook page has been transferred to a school that is further away from where she lives compared to her current school. As the transfer order is mandatory, the teacher in question is not allowed to appeal.

This act of punishing a teacher who has given 16 years of service and who is also a single mother is despicable, what more when she was simply exercising her rights as a citizen to share her interest in current Malaysian politics on her personal Facebook page.

When asked, Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan commented that teachers involved in politics should leave political matters outside the school-gate. This is despite the fact that the ban on teachers’ involvement in politics was lifted in 2010.

In any case, such a rule does not even apply in this case, as posting a poster on a personal Facebook page is certainly not akin to bringing politics inside the school-gate. As such, the mandatory transfer order to the single-mother teacher just days before Aidilfitri is totally uncalled for and should be rescinded immediately.

This incident once again brings to attention the constant interference of the Education Ministry in the personal affairs of teachers. Aren’t teachers also citizens who enjoy the right to decide and think for themselves, especially within their own personal space?

If educators are not allowed to think for themselves and express their views and opinions, then how are they supposed to nurture critically minded children? How are we to develop the required human capital to face the challenges of the future when the Education Ministry is only intent on creating robots that ” turut perintah”.

Instead of monitoring teachers’ personal Facebook pages, the Ministry should focus on teacher training, capacity building, and investing in the future of our schoolchildren.