The Malacca International School was jointly started by the Yayasan Malacca, Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Malacca and Long Term Focus Sdn. Bhd., in the year 1993 to cater for the expatriates in Malacca. The chief minister in 1993, Rahim Tamby Cik was instrumental in bringing many foreign investors to Malacca.

He saw the necessity of starting an international school to cater for the children of expatriate investors in Malacca. Longterm Focus Sdn Bhd was given the task to set up the school and I was hired to manage it.

In 1999, the state government sold off their shares to Longterm Focus as it was not a profitable venture. We purchased a land at Taman Siantan, Kampong Lapan, Malacca from the Koperasi Polis and took a SME bank loan for the construction of a new building in 2008.

The idea of teaching students the importance of global warming and the necessity to learn farming especially organic farming and the recycling of organic wastes was incorporated into the construction of our new school building.

The management has since installed:

1. Solar energy panels to partially source for clean energy;

2. Rain water catchments areas to irrigate the organic farm;

3. All classrooms have been built huge with good natural lighting and using only fans instead of air conditioners so as to reduce greenhouse gases.

4. A two-acre organic farm to teach students and others the making of organic fertilisers, recycling of organic waste, germination of plants, replanting, vermiculture, (worm culture) etc; and

5. The canteen that serves only organic vegetables grown at our farm; we also have our own poultry and fish from another 25-acre organic farm at Durian Tunggal, Malacca.

This school was built on a neglected land, infested with mosquitoes and declared a dengue-prone area. The management built macadamised roads with street lighting and has planted trees on the edge of the road at their own expense. There was no monetary assistance from the town council for this project. The two-acre neighbouring farm land was a run down farm which was purchased with the intention of converting it to an organic farm. The project costs one Million ringgit to convert it into a teaching organic farm.

Now, however, he mayor of Malacca town, intends to build a 100 feet, 4-lane wide road through these two properties. We have made numerous appeals to the mayor to reconsider this road decision, which is rejected. We then approached the chief minister of Malacca, Mohamed Ali Rustam for assistance. He advised the Dato Bandar to discuss the matter with us.

We tried to make appointments with the Dato Bandar but he refused to meet us. In February, our Parent-Teachers Organisation comprising of parents from the expatriate population tried to make an appointment to meet the Dato Bandar to explain our situation, but he again refused to meet us.

We then received a letter from the Land Office in February informing us that we have to surrender part of the school and farm land as the Dato Bandar had instructed the Land Office to acquire the lands as soon as possible.

If a road is constructed through our land, this action will:

1. Deprive the Malacca International School students of a greater part of their playing field;

2. Create noise and air pollution around the school and housing estate;

3. Destroy very old trees in the name of progress;

4. Endanger the school children as they will have to cross this road and also a monsoon drain from the other side;

5. Allow sendors of junk food will set up stalls to tempt the school children who have been painstakingly taught to eat organic and not ‘junk’ food;

6. Affect the security for our foreign and local students which will surely be compromised;

7. Affect the farming project as the farm which is intended to teach children on sustainable living methods, also conducts weekend classes for students from other schools. This proposed road will divide the land into two small pieces and thus we will have to abandon the farming project.

8. Create chaos for the parents who want to drop and pick up their child/children.

The school and farm land is situated in a housing estate and there are many feeder roads to and out of this taman . Hence, the road that the Majlis Bandaraya Malacca Bersejarah (MBMB) intends to construct is redundant. Every Tuesday evening, the road leading to the school is completely blocked for the pasar malam night without causing any inconvenience to the residents, as there are many alternative roads.

The management of the school are teaching the younger generation on the importance of global warming; they have introduced the solar panel for awareness to the young ones on how this solar energy can create extra electrical power using the sun; and also teaching them on the importance of organic food - self sustainable living. We invite students from other schools within/out of the country during week ends and school holidays to share this concept.

We, the management, staff, students and parents implore our prime minister-to-be Najib Abdul Razak to discuss with the Pejabat Daerah Dan Tanah Malacca Tengah, Reference No. PTMT A1/01/1366 (12) dated 12 hb Januari 2009, to allow us to use this land for the teaching of children in the agricultural sciences from a very young age.

We informed the officials at the Land Office of our predicament and they are very sympathetic and allowed us till May 10 to appeal to the higher authorities.

The road the MBMB intends to construct through our school and farm is going to be wider than the main Jalan Tengkera road, which currently is the road that connects from Malacca town to the Tanjong Kling areas.

Moreover the federal government has funded a multimillion ringgit coastal highway, which will be opened shortly. When this road opens to the public, Jalan Tengkera will be fairly eased of traffic. So constructing a 100 feet, double-lane road in a housing estate is not necessary.

We request YAB Dato’ Sri to assist the school management in resolving this matter urgently so that we can continue teaching children on the importance of global warming and eating ‘chemical’-free food.

We are the only school in Malaysia and perhaps, in the world, to bring awareness to students and others on solar-energised panels that distribute electricity, farming, eating healthy food and on the dangers of global warming to the young children.

We have tried our best to convince the local authorities and politicians on our project but unfortunately they do not seem to understand about eco-friendly environment and organic farming.

We appeal to the federal authorities to help us to carry out our mission to teach young people on the above mentioned issues. Please see our letters of appeal, photographs etc here .