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A secondary school teacher who injected political satire into a mathematics examination paper faces disciplinary action.

 The teacher framed suggestive questions around the names of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, his two sons, two cabinet ministers and prominent businessmen.

 Dr Mahathir said it showed how some teachers were trying to sow hatred against the Government.

 He thought it was just the tip of the iceberg and many more teachers were 'campaigning for the opposition and instigating students' ahead of the impending general election.

 The school where the incident happened is in Kedah, Dr Mahathir's home state.

 Education Minister Najib Tun Razak said the teacher had committed a 'blatant act' and he faces transfer or dismissal.

 One of the questions required the students to calculate the number of slaves living at a certain distance from a mahligai, or palace. An opposition party has labelled the Prime Minister's luxurious official residence in the new administrative capital, Putrajaya, a palace and called Dr Mahathir a pharaoh.

 Another question used names which Malaysians would associate with people involved in the trials of Anwar Ibrahim, the jailed former deputy prime minister, who has become an opposition symbol of alleged injustice.

 The mocking mathematical problem concerned the weights of Det, the pen name of the youthful Dr Mahathir, Daem (Daim Zainuddin, the Finance Minister), Umihalf (Ummi Hafilda, Anwar's accuser) and others.

 The students also were asked to work out the portions of a large sum of money divided among Daim, Mirzan Mahathir and his brother Mokhzani and determine how two leading businessmen shared the loot from 'robbing Perwaja factory'.

 An investigation is underway into alleged transgressions at the Perwaja steel corporation.



Teacher's political satire adds up to trouble