As the curtain was raised on the Ketari by-election campaign this morning, two Chinese education lobby groups arrived in the constituency and vowed to join forces to highlight their respective plights concerning Chinese primary schools.

The two groups are the Save Our School (SOS) committee and the Subang Jaya-USJ Chinese School Development Working Committee.

SOS secretary Tommy Chin told malaysiakini that they would approach and persuade the two candidates for the Ketari state seat — Barisan Nasional's Yum Ah Ha and DAP's Choong Siew Onn — to sign their petition in support of their causes.

He said they would also brief the voters about how Chinese education is being jeopardised in the country.

"The Chinese community here needs to know that what has happened to us may come to them one day. It would be too late for them to understand the government's policy on education by then," he said.

"Several Gerakan leaders have previously voiced their support for us. I don't see any reason why they cannot make the same stand now," he added.

SOS was set up by a group of concerned residents when the only Chinese primary school in their area, SJK(C) Damansara, was closed down due to a proposed relocation early last year.

The residents have claimed the closure was fraudulent as they were initially told that a 'branch school' would be built while the original one maintained.

It was last reported that there are some 60 students studying in air-conditioned containers placed in the grounds of a temple near the original school.

Vision School dilemma

Marching alongside the SOS group were representatives from the Subang Jaya-USJ Chinese School Development Working Committee.

The committee is comprised of disgruntled parents are unhappy with their state assembly representative Lee Hwa Beng from MCA for failing to keep to his election pledge in 1999 to relocate SJK(C) Chee Wen to Subang Jaya by the end of last year.

Some 150 Year One pupils of SJK(C) Chee Wen are squatting at three borrowed classrooms in a national school in Subang Jaya.

Committee deputy chairperson William Chua said they would also explain to the Ketari voters why the group had demanded for the conversion of a newly completed Vision School in Subang Jaya into a Chinese school.

The Vision School is a government proposal to house primary schools of different teaching mediums in one compound to promote racial integration.

Chua said: "We believe that the people here will understand our predicament even though it seems like a problem confined to only urban areas.

"We want them to know that a Vision School has a far-reaching implications on mother-tongue education."

When asked, Chua said his group is not working for the interests of any party and therefore they are not worried about any possible perception that they are pro-opposition.

"The committee doesn't support any party in particular but we will ask the voters to choose the candidate who supports us and Chinese schools," he said.

Election gimmick

Chinese education is expected to be one of the campaign fodders in Ketari, which will go to the polls next Sunday.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently assured the ethnic Chinese that the government could be taken to court should it closes any of the Chinese schools while Deputy Education Minister Hon Choon Kim yesterday promised three new Chinese primary schools to be built starting August.

However, several groups including United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia and (Dong Zong) and United Chinese School Teachers Association of Malaysia (Jiao Zong) have dismissed such promises as election gimmick and insisted that the aim of the Vision School is to abolish vernacular schools in the long run.

The Ketari state seat fell vacant after its representative Loke Koon Kum from Gerakan passed away early this month.

The constituency has a total of 17,143 voters of which 53.83 percent (9,228) are Chinese Malaysians. Malay Malaysians constitute 39.12 percent (6,701) while Indian Malaysians make up 5.21 percent (843).