KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — Terengganu Education Department director Shafruddin Ali Hussin confirmed today to being the author of a now viral post on messaging application Telegram calling for “hand-clapping” exercises to be conducted in schools statewide.
However, he said the message was a “request” made to school heads and not an order, The Star Online reported this evening.
“It was a request for them to clap their hands to liven up official events and such values would be followed by other students,” Shafruddin was quoted saying in a news conference in Kuala Terengganu.
The news portal added that he read from a prepared statement and declined to reply further questions.
Shafruddin was forced to respond publicly after a text message of his “request” spread on the Internet, calling for photographic proof that the five-minute hand-clapping regiment during school assembly be sent to him, “without exceptions”.
The Star Online reported five school heads saying they had done as instructed.
“We have no choice. It is an instruction and we have to carry it out,” the news portal cited one unnamed teacher as saying, on condition of anonymity.
A video has also been circulated on Facebook and Youtube showing a group of teachers and students of a primary school in Terengganu clapping their hands.
The issue is said to originate from concerns that teachers had failed to show their appreciation during a recent event attended by the state Mentri Besar Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman.
