For two years, the buildings have stood empty. Where the chatter of children o­nce filled its rooms, halls and courts, o­nly a quiet stillness now pervades SJK (C) Damansara in Petaling Jaya. At least two thousand more children who could have obtained the education that was guaranteed to them in the constitution, lost that opportunity when the vernacular school was closed suddenly in January 2001.

Now into the third year of its closure, the walls are still standing strong, the classrooms usable, the courts functional despite obvious signs of neglect. Buoyed by all this and the current festive cheer, the residents committee that sprang into action two years ago to save the school is hoping the new lunar year will bring good luck to them.

The Save Our School (SOS) committee is hoping to get a "Chinese new year gift" from Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad tomorrow when he attends a 200,000-strong Chinese New Year celebration in Petaling Jaya, jointly-organised by the Culture, Arts and Tourism Ministry and the Selangor state government.

"We are very happy that the prime minister will celebrate new year with the Chinese community, but it would be a meaningless o­ne if he didn't announce the re-opening of the Damansara school," said committee advisor Ronnie Liu.

Liu, who is also the DAP publicity chief, accompanied several DAP leaders in today's visit to the school. Among them were Kepong MP Dr Tan Seng Giaw, Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai, Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok. They also distributed angpow (red packet with money) to the pupils.

The closure of the school is also expected to be a hot topic in the coming general election, expected this year or next.

"If, before the general election, the school is still closed, then we would play up this issue," said SOS secretary Tommy Chin.

"We don't have any other avenue left. We will raise this issue with the other ethnic groups, too," he said.

'Not conducive'

The school was ordered closed by the Education Ministry o­n Jan 2, 2001, ostensibly because it no longer provided a "conducive learning environment".

Its 1,430 pupils were told to relocate temporarily to another school while a new building in Tropicana, located several kilometres away from the original premises, was being built. The Tropicana building was completed in time for the 2002 school term

Among the reasons provided for the closure of the original school occupying 0.8 acre were space constraints, plumbing problems as well as air and noise pollution due to its promixity to a highway.

However, an official environment assessment report has yet to be furnished by the ministry.

Built in 1930, the school has done wonders with the infrastructure, now comprising a three-storey building which houses 16 classrooms and the administrative office, an activity centre, a library furnished with computers and audio-visual equipment, and a new canteen.

One year prior to its closure, an auditorium which cost hundreds of thousands of ringgit was completed.

The original school now has 47 pupils - including four newly enrolled Standard o­ne pupils - and 12 teachers, housed in the air-conditioned containers o­n the grounds of a neighbouring temple.

The enrolment has dropped from the initial 72 pupils two years ago. o­n this, SOS' Chin said more pupils will come if the school is reopened.

"I urge the ministry to remember that initially we not o­nly have 72 students but we had more than a thousand students. This should be convincing enough to reopen the school," he said.

In the past, the committee had initiated numerous protests and sent appeal letters to the ministry.

Confident of support

Chin, a 39-year-old businessman and father of two daughters aged two, has been tirelessly spearheading the committee in their latest fund-raising campaign and was rewarded with about RM16,000 in the first month.

"Our target is to raise RM250,000 within four months. I'm confident that we can raise the amount.

"We are confident because we know the people are supporting us," he said.

The campaign aims to get at least RM1 from every Malaysian to help pay for the maintenance of the temporary school this year. At least RM20,000 is needed a month to pay for the rental of the containers, utility bills, teachers' salaries, food for students, field trips and loan for books.

Almost every weekend, the committee will be o­n a fund-raising drive at Klang Valley markets where they also distribute their newsletters to raise awareness o­n the issue.

For more details o­n the campaign, call Tommy Chin - 012-335 6118; Zhou - 03-7957 4984; or Wong - 012-697 4548.