When Ong Ka Ting announced the RM4 million special allocation for seven Chinese primary schools and one Chinese-majority secondary school, the general public'S perception is another round of vote-buying spree by the Barisan Nasional.

The RM4 million sweeteners should be welcomed by the schools as it does help to ease their operational financial burdens, which traditionally restS on the shoulders of prominent Chinese community leaders.

Even though Ong denied that the move was an attempt to fish Chinese votes as the general election is around the corner, a rational thinking Chinese Malaysian community would perceived it as an election gimmick.

The Chinese community is already immune to such political plots that started with the conditional 'one-off' scheme to buy the parents' votes with a mere RM120, or three sens a day. Prior to that was the 'tuition vouchers programmes' that tried to gain the support of the teachers who do not operate tuition centres.

Over the years, MCA had failed in all of its attempts to convince Umno to deliver, in written laws, the full protection of the country's minorities' education rights.

In the current discriminatory educational policies, the vernacular Chinese schools are left to fend for themselves. New urban Chinese schools are not permitted, while the densely over-populated Chinese schools in Klang Valley are not allowed to open new branches. The Chinese Independent Combined Examination results are not recognised by the Malaysian government, and the Chinese independent school students are denied the right to enter local universities which their parents pay taxes to support.

It is important that the Chinese community demands for their basic right of education to be spelled out in written law rather than be pleased with the sweeteners and the lip-service from their politicians. The dignity of Chinese Malaysians and their education rights should be worth more than RM4 million.