The announcement came at an opportune time for the Barisan Nasional but others had shrugged it off as mere ‘election goodies’ to win Chinese support.

Three BN bigwigs - MCA president Ong Ka Ting, Gerakan acting president Koh Tsu Koon and Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein Onn - today revealed plans to build six Chinese primary schools in urban areas. They were accompanied by senior leaders from their respective parties.

These new vernacular schools will be located in Sungai Long, Kajang, Bukit Serdang, Rawang in Selangor, Wangsa Maju in Kuala Lumpur and Danga Bay in Johor.

This announcement - which includes plans to relocate 13 Chinese primary schools - is the largest ever of its kind to be ‘dished out’ to the Chinese community.

The relocation will involve schools in seven states - Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang and Kedah.

election goodies for the chinese community schools 310108 However, speculations that the original SRJK(C) Damansara school will reopen before the general election has been dampened as the school was not included in this exercise.

Ong’s aide had prohibited journalists from posing any questions related to the controversial Chinese school on the grounds that the problem was still unresolved.

100% approved by Hishammuddin

Speaking at the MCA headquarters, Ong said that Hishammuddin had fully approved MCA’s application to build and relocate 19 Chinese primary schools in a letter dated Jan 30, 2008 (yesterday).

According to Ong, MCA and Gerakan had been in a three-year discussion with Hishammuddin on this matter and had recently came to a consensus.

"Representing the Chinese community, I had written a letter to Hishammuddin on Jan 16 to make the request," said Ong.

"At the end of last year, we had some agreements (and) finally on Jan 16 the education minister informed me to submit a specific proposal."

"I want to thank Hishammuddin. He has always been fair and considerate in listening to the problems faced by Chinese schools."

Ong believes that "this is good news for the Chinese community before the Chinese New Year."

These Chinese schools can accommodate 27,000 more pupils upon completion, he said.

mca sjkc new school 310108 hands Meanwhile, Ong has denied that today’s announcement were "election goodies" stressing that MCA has always been championing Chinese education and delivering good news every year.

"Just let those who always dismiss this as election sweets eat sweets everyday. They can eat as many as they want," he quipped.

Hishammuddin was quick to add that BN leaders had continuously worked on this matter.

"After the elections we shall continue do so," he said, adding that the opposition is raising sensitive issues and allegations to split BN since the elections are impending.

Mysterious press conference

This morning’s press conference was somewhat mysterious as no Malay or English press were invited except MCA-owned Star .

A total of six major Chinese newspapers and four television stations were invited.

MCA had initially planned to hold the press conference at the Housing and Local Government Ministry but switched to its party headquarters at the eleventh hour.

PKR Youth Information chief Lau Teck Hai also criticised Hishammuddin for only inviting the Chinese media to the press conference.

"Since this is national policy, why was it not announced to everybody? Is there any hidden agenda?" he asked.

In related developments, Chinese education umbrella group Dong Jiao Zong maintains that the new Chinese primary school should be built systematically, in accordance to the government’s approach towards national schools.

The group welcomed these plans but said this would not satisfy the current demand for Chinese education.