DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang today urged Umno leaders not to communalise politics and play up old fears by labelling DAP's forthcoming conference called New Deal for Mother tongue Education in the Eighth Malaysia Plan as a political gimmick.

"This is another classic example of political fear and blackmail. It is also the latest in the series of desperate attempts by Umno to raise the spectre of fear in the communal divide-and-rule game in the party to restore Malay political support," he told malaysiakini when contacted.

Lim was speaking in response to a Berita Harian report today quoting Umno supreme council member Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as saying that DAP should not "play with fire" by organising the conference as it would jeopardise national integration.

The report also quoted Umno Youth assistant secretary Zulkifli Alwi as saying that the conference was a political gimmick to restore Chinese support and that DAP's focus on the mother tongue issue showed that it was a racist party.

Lim however, reiterated that the Chinese school issue does not just concern Chinese Malaysians.

"In fact, more than 70,000 of the pupils in these schools are non-Chinese. The construction of more buildings and facilities will benefit all pupils regardless of their race," he said.

New deal

DAP announced the setting-up of the Defend Mother-tongue Education Committee last Sunday to support the Save the Damansara School Signature Campaign.

The committee, to be headed by Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai, is scheduled to organise a series of conferences and seminars throughout the country to establish a consensus on the matter.

Its first conference will be held in Kuala Lumpur on March 6. The committee has invited three top cabinet ministers from the MCA, Gerakan and SUPP (Sarawak United Peoples Party). They are Dr Ling Liong Sik, Lim Keng Yaik and Law Hieng Ding.

Among issues to be discussed at the conference include the building of 250 new Chinese primary schools, or 50 new schools a year and a proposed RM1 billion special allocation for Chinese independent schools.

The conference will also call on the government to allow the building of new, or re-establishment of previous, Chinese independent schools and award recognition to the Unified Examinations Certificate (UEC) of these secondary schools.

The Education Ministry does not recognise the UEC, which is the Chinese secondary school equivalent to the Middle Certificate Education (SPM) that is given upon successful completion of the five-year curriculum of national secondary schools.