The decision to reopen the SRJK(C) Damansara and the reinstating of allowances for the Sekolah Agama Rakyat (SAR) will be dealt through a 'package' approach under the Ninth Malaysia Plan based on a consensus reached by Barisan Nasional component parties.

Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who said this today, however did not provide a certain answer to the two protracted issues when quizzed at a press conference held at the Parliament House's lobby in Kuala Lumpur today.

The minister was asked to comment on a proposal by the Selangor Education Department to turn the SRJK(C) Damansara into either a teachers' activity centre, a curriculum centre or a store for the department's documents.

The department's proposals were unveiled in a written reply by Hishammuddin during the last Parliament meeting in July. The vernacular school was ordered closed by the ministry in 2001.

Responding to the proposal, Hishammuddin said: "I have told BN component parties that this issue should be seen as a 'package' which must be agreed upon by all parties.

"At this stage, we should not divert our attention from the promises made in the BN election manifesto and I would like to give priority to them and what has been agreed by BN parties," he explained.

"We will announce the decision (if to reopen the SRJK(C) Damansara school) as a package under the Ninth Malaysia Plan based on the allocation to my ministry as under the Eighth Malaysia Plan, we had limited resources," he said.

Next year marks the final year of the Eighth Malaysia Plan.

Ongoing discussions

To another question on whether the government planned to reinstate allowances to the SAR, the minister said the religious schools would also be dealt as a 'package' under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

The privately-run religious schools became a national controversy after the government stopped their annual grants ranging from RM60 to RM150 per student in October 2002.

The government adopted the hardline approach following former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's claim that the students at SAR were being taught to hate the government - a charge refuted by the schools.

Elaborating on the two 'packages', Hishammuddin said they were based on an '... ongoing discussion with BN component parties' and 'realistic considerations' - a referral his ministry's budgetary allocation.

"It is an ongoing discussion ... for instance the MCA is well aware of my plan," he added.

To another question on whether his ministry would extend special aid to national Tamil schools to address problems such as incomplete basic infrastructure, Hishammuddin said all schools regardless of their type, would be treated equally.

The minister also thanked Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also finance minister, for paying particular attention to the Education Ministry in the premier's maiden budget tabled in Parliament last Friday.

8TV fined over ad

Meanwhile, Energy, Water and Communications Deputy Minister Shaziman Abu Mansor told parliament that private television station 8TV has been fined the maximum compound of RM50,000 for repeatedly airing an alcohol advertisement during live telecasts of the Euro 2004 soccer tournament in July.

He said when replying to Dr Rozaidah Talib (BN-Ampang) who wanted to know why private television stations were not subjected to stringent censorship, screening and advertising content checks.

Shaziman said 8TV had breached the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Act and the licencing rules but was currently appealing.

8TV is a subsidiary of the Media Prima group, which also owns another private television station, TV3. The former's target audience mainly comprise of young urbanites.