Teacher translated 'Negaraku' so students could understand it better, says Negri exco member

SEREMBAN: A teacher at a vernacular school here translated the national anthem Negaraku into Mandarin to allow her Standard 5 pupils to have a better understanding of the national anthem, says Negri Sembilan education, entrepreneurship, investments and industrialisation committee chairman Dr Mohamad Rafie Ab Malek.

He said that authorities have taken measures to ensure there will be no recurrence of the episode.

"The national anthem should only be sung in the national language, Bahasa Melayu.

"It is not proper to sing Negaraku in any other language," he said in a statement Saturday (Dec 7).

He added that the incident shows that more should be done to ensure pupils in primary schools had a better grasp of the national language.

However, he did not state what steps were taken to prevent a recurrence or if disciplinary action was taken against the teacher concerned.

The state Education Department, which investigated the one-minute, 23-second viral video showing 20 pupils singing the national anthem in Mandarin also found that the incident happened on Sept 19 last year.

The clip was uploaded on social media on Friday (Dec 6).

"The ministry will not compromise with any party that is attempting to go against the Federal Constitution regardless of whether the act was intentional or otherwise," it said in a press statement.