MCA president Chua Soi Lek today urged the community not to politice Chinese education as a racial issue as this would make the struggle more difficult.

 

Chua said this is mainly because the community needs to deal with the Education Ministry, which comprises of non-Chinese officers.

He advised Chinese society to change its strategy by emphasising the economic value of learning Mandarin, as China has emerged as the world’s second biggest economic entity and it becomes vital to learn Mandarin.

 

Since the federal constitution has safeguarded mother tongue education, and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has kept assuring that the government is not going to close Chinese schools, there is no need for the community to make it a racial issue, said Chua.

 

He cited the mass rally called by Dong Zong last Sunday as an example, condemning the opposition for politicising the education issue.

 

NONE Chua ( right in photo ) said this during a press conference after performing a groundbreaking ceremony for a much-anticipated new Chinese school in Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur.

The local people have fought for the new school in Wangsa Maju for two decades.

 

Chua also claimed that the party has spent 20 years to find this site to build the primary school.

 

When asked why MCA need such a long period for this locality, Chua lashed out, “You think it’s easy to find a piece of land? This land cost about RM20million, who wants to give it?”

 

“Unless you have a wealthy father, do you have one?” he asked further.

 

The two-acre site for the new school is at Danau Kota, and the cost to build a 52-classroom premise has risen to RM15 million.

Chua said the MCA takes a practical approach to its struggle, while the opposition prefers “issuing statements” and taking a “demonstrating” approach.

 

“People don’t know what (MCA) has done, (as we have) done our job quietly,” he said.

 

Chua also complained that the rakyat and media have been very lenient to Pakatan Rakyat but harsh on MCA, and this is unfair.

 

Bureaucratic practices blamed

Earlier, Chua in his speech, had noted that MCA was deemed as being powerless in BN in dealing with the education issue.

 

However, he blamed the Education Ministry’s bureaucratic practices, and “troublesome officers” for the negative perception toward MCA.

 

“We need to deal with a lot of bureaucratic and discrepancy problems... I have openly said that some education officers are troublesome,” he said.

 

“As a ruling party, we are victims, too. Some have said that the problem in Chinese education was due to MCA being powerless,” he added.