A government-assisted Chinese primary school in Puchong, Selangor, may fall victim to the vicious ongoing feud between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat.

The SJK(C) Sin Ming school board had invited PKR’s Khalid Ibrahim, in his capacity as Selangor menteri besar, to officiate the school’s new four-storey building today.

This apparently did not go down well with the Education Ministry.

sin ming school 220209 vip In addition, the choice of guest of honour, PKR de facto leader and Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, is likely to irk the ministry even further.

In response, the education authorities have barred the school’s headmaster and teachers from the event, according to board chairperson Chai Yoon Peng.

There is now also a question mark on whether Deputy Education Minister Dr Wee Ka Siong would fulfil his ministry’s RM120,000 pledge to the school.

sin ming school 220209 drums Despite the gloomy scenario, the school board went ahead with the opening ceremony with much fanfare, including lion dance and traditional drum performances, though it was raining heavily throughout the ceremony.

In attendance were a host of Pakatan leaders including Kuala Langat MP Abdullah Sani Hamid, Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo and three Selangor exco members - Teresa Kok, Ronnie Liu and Yaakob Sapari.

BN leaders ‘boycott’ event

No BN leaders could be seen at the event, though Chai claimed that invitations were sent to key federal and state reps from Umno, MCA and Gerakan.

sin ming school 220209 new building “No one should view education issues through a political lens,” said Chai, adding that the school board would invite anyone who is willing to assist the school.

Chai said he had met Wee two weeks ago and was told that the Education Ministry would disburse RM120,000 in emergency funds to the school.

But the school feared that the promised funding could be withdrawn.

sin ming school 220209 khalid ibrahim “He (Wee) said he has approved the funds, but we must wait until the Feb 22 (today) and see what other issues we have. Then, we must ask (Sungai Pelek assemblyperson) Yap Ee Wah (from MCA) to call him,” said Chai.

The school, though small and bursting at its seams, caters to 1,700 students and has undergone a turbulent history. It almost faced closure in 1986 when there were only 68 students left.

However, the local community persevered and raised enough funds to keep the school running.

Currently, the school is on a donation drive to raise RM5 million to expand its capacity to 2,500 by 2012. The chair of the school expansion committee is businessman Soo Chee Wen, a very close ally to Anwar.

Anwar’s calligraphy raises RM150,000

sin ming school 220209 anwar speak In his speech, Anwar paid tribute to renowned Chinese educationist Sim Mow Yu, who passed away recently, and the late Goh Cheng Chew, a coffee stall owner and key figure in resuscitating the school in 1986.

Anwar said Sim was his friend during his activist days with the Malaysian Muslim Youth Movement (Abim) in the 1970s and had once shared the same stage during a ceramah in Klang over language issues.

He asked the crowd, comprising of parents and students, to observe a one-minute silence in Sim’s memory as the rain poured on.

sin ming school 220209 anwar caligraphy Though occasionally venturing into highly political topics, Anwar ended his speech calling for racial unity by quoting famous Chinese proverb ‘si hai ji nei chie xiong di’ (all men are brothers).

Later, Anwar was asked to write the proverb in Chinese calligraphy which was auctioned off to a sum of RM150,000 to school board advisor Yan Khoon Yin, after a fierce auction following an opening bid of RM18,000.

sin ming school 220209 caligraphy The school was given an added bonus of RM50,000 to its coffers, courtesy of the Selangor state government, announced by Khalid during his speech.

Khalid brought further joy to the crowd of cheering parents and students when he announced that the state government would assist the school in acquiring an adjacent vacant land for expansion purposes.

In all, RM350,000 in donations were pledged to the school during the event.

‘Leave politics out of education’

At a press conference later, Anwar responded to the possibility that the Education Ministry may withhold funding for the school.

“That would not be very smart. This is about education and the rights of all schools. This (the money) is not coming from the education minister’s pockets. If it was, he can hold it. We’re talking about taxpayers money and funds which have been promised.

“I think it is absurd and irresponsible on the part of the deputy (education) minister to threaten schools in this manner and treat Chinese schools as part of the MCA outfit... don’t condemn children just because you have lost support of the Chinese community,” he said.

In an immediate response, Deputy Education Minister Wee denied that his ministry had exerted pressure on teachers not to attend today's event.

He told Malaysiakini that he did not hold back on the RM120,000 funding to Sin Ming school. According to him, the final approval of the funding will be made next month.