The revelation by MIC president S Samy Vellu that the government had built 21 new Tamil primary schools under the Eighth Malaysia Plan (8MP) has been disputed.

News reports today quoted him as saying that, even though there was no mention of construction of vernacular schools under the 8MP, "in the end, we managed to build 21 new Tamil schools and to upgrade 64 existing schools".

However, Parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang has questioned this.

"Let me state outright that I do not believe Samy Vellu," he said in a statement rebutting the "preposterous claim".

"We are not talking about the relocating of schools premises, but entirely new ones."

Lim asked Samy Vellu to list the new schools built or issue a public apology for misleading the public.

"If Samy Vellu can produce a list of schools ...which were not relocated from existing schools, I am prepared to tender a public apology," said Lim, who is also the Ipoh Timor MP.

Lim said that there were 526 Tamil primary schools in 2000. The 8MP was implemented from 2001 to 2005.

Salary-cut motion

Samy Vellu's claim followed a controversial reply in Parliament last week by Deputy Education Minister Noh Omar, who said the government would not build any vernacular schools under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

Despite this, Samy Vellu said the MIC would submit a proposal to the government for 14 new Tamil schools, costing about RM12 million.

He also noted that the government had allocated RM100 million for the construction of schools nationwide and that the funds to build the 14 schools would be sourced from the allocation.

Noh's statement last week did not go down well with leading Chinese education movement Dong Jiao Zong, which has accused the government of breaking its promise .

When the parliamentary sitting resumes in November, Lim will move an unprecedented motion of a RM10 salary-cut against Education Minister Hishamuddin Hussein, and his two deputies and parliamentary secretary, for failing to provide for new vernacular schools.

The Dewan Rakyat is on a one-month break for Ramadhan.