KUCHING, July 14 — SMK Lutong principal Marcus Hugo is being victimised for a teacher’s failed attempt to convert a Christian girl to Islam in March this year, the Kenyah Association of Miri Division (KAMD) claimed today.
“Hugo is being asked to report to a nearby SMK Merbau, Miri, by tomorrow. He received a letter on July 2 asking him to report for duty,” KAMD chairman Peter Kallang told Malay Mail Online today.
Kallang, who is also Sarawak SAVE Rivers Network chairman, said he has spoken to Hugo, who is a Kenyah, and was told that the transfer was related to the failed attempt by two teachers of SMK Lutong to convert Sabrina anak Ngumbang to Islam on March 14 this year.
According to Kallang, the Education Ministry wrote a letter dated May 25 to Hugo telling him to report for duty at SMK Merbau as its principal on June 15.
“However, he only received the letter on July 2, telling him that he was being transferred to SMK Merbau,” Kallang said.
“He also told me that he should not be blamed for the attempted conversion because it happened outside the school and it was during a school break,” Kallang said.
He said Hugo, who is also a KAMD member, was also reprimanded by a senior education officer for taking actions against the two teachers by removing them out of the school.
“Right now, the students of SMK Lutong, Parents-teachers’ Association and the school alumni are scrambling to block this transfer and had written letters to the Education Ministry,” he said.
Kallang said Hugo should be allowed to continue with his post at SMK Lutong since he has another one and half years more to retirement.
On March 25, a Form One student of SMK Lutong lodged a police report stating that a school teacher attempted to convert her and five other students to Islam without their parents’ permission.
