KUALA LUMPUR: Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek today apologised to the Indian community over the banning of Tamil songs at the national-level Tamil Language Carnival in Kepala Batas, Penang recently.
She said the Ministry of Education (MoE) took full responsibility for the incident, adding that it should not have happened.
MoE had also taken strict action against the officer found to be negligent in handling the sensitivity, she said, assuring that such incidents would not recur.
"Therefore, in my capacity as the minister, I express deep regret and, on behalf of the ministry, would like to apologise to the Indian community offended by the circumstances, technical errors, communication lapses and all other intentions that occurred during the event.
"We take full responsibility… this matter was indeed unintended, unprecedented… there was absolutely no intention to marginalise any community," she said when winding up the debate on the Supply Bill 2024 at the committee stage for the ministry in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Fadhlina assured that a song called "Tamil Valthu" would be performed at the Penang-level Deepavali celebration on Nov 29 so that it could be appreciated by educators in the state.
In the meantime, she said, to further strengthen understanding of matters involving culture, traditions and religious practices, multiple discussion channels would be used including existing education committees and parent-teacher associations.
Previously, several Members of Parliament (MPs) and political parties had urged MoE to investigate the incident involving the ban on the performance of "Kadavul Valthu" and "Tamil Valthu" at the opening ceremony of the Tamil language carnival hosted by the ministry at a hotel in Kepala Batas.