Over the last two weeks there has been some racial tension created by a couple of secondary school principals from opposite ends of peninsular Malaysia.

Not surprisingly, these incidents were met with outrage from not just the non-Muslim parents of these schools, but also from many peace-loving Malaysian as well. As a result of these racial incidents, many sections of the Malaysian community have demanded various stern actions to be taken against these principals.

These have range from sacking these principals to even imprisonment. However one must asked, how should we (as Malaysians) react to these unfortunate incidents? Though I am not against the idea that tough action should be taken against these principals, we must consider if this course of action is effective in solving the problem of racism among teacher and principals of government schools.

We must ask the question: when we punish these principals, will it help them change their attitude towards the other races? Or will it only create more hatred and contempt among the offenders and the offenders’ close circle of family and friends?

Can the fear of punishment really triumph over racial intolerance or are we merely covering up this ‘wound’ with a simple plaster? I believe we cannot fight fire with fire. We cannot use punishment and fear to win over these principals. All we will do is to create more hatred and resentment in them.

‘Love covers over a multitude of sins’! ‘A soft answer turns away wrath; but a harsh word stirs up anger’. These are proverbs which we must turn to when we consider how best to face these racial abuses. We need to turn the other cheek when we are spat upon.

It is not an easy thing to do. And that is why we must commend highly those who did not overreact during the cow-head incident and the church-burning incident. We must break this vicious cycle of racism and the only way to do it is to love those who hate you.

Then, hopefully, they will see the error of their ways and be ashamed at their actions.

The other issue, however, is also to ask the question - how does a racist teacher rise through the ranks to become a principal of a secondary school? Or how does a teacher/principal turn racist? How or who evaluated these teachers and promoted them to become heads of government schools?

We must look carefully at their training and the appraisal system of the ministry of education.

This is where I believe the ministry of education and Biro Tata Negara must bear some responsibility for these racial incidents.

A person does not usually become a racist overnight. A person’s perception and values are usually moulded over the year through his/her education, training, family or religious influences.

Thus one must ask the question to the ministry of education and Biro Tata Negara on what steps have they taken to promote unity in this country and amongst public school teachers and principals.

Or have they actually been the real culprits in influencing the teacher to become racist bigots in the hope that they, in turn, will influence their young charges to be racist as well?

Thus, while we must love those who are racist against us, we must also question and challenge the system in which these principals were trained to become racist in the first place in order to stamp out future racist incidents in our Malaysian schools.