Umno's Sekijang MP Anuar Abd Manap slammed MCA leader Chong Sin Woon for saying that Chinese primary schools have failed to receive their full federal allocations.

This was after a claim made by Chong, who is deputy education minister, that Chinese primary schools did not receive their allocations after a protest by MCA.

Chong explained that MCA had rejected the “partial disbursement” because it fell short of the promised RM50 million annual allocation for Chinese schools. He did not mention how much the shortfall was.

"MCA insists that Chinese primary schools should receive (the full) RM50 million.

"The money (for Chinese primary schools) did come to the Education Ministry in August but it was not the full amount and we will not accept a partial disbursement," Chong said in a Facebook posting.

However, Anuar described the stance by Chong as "insolent".

"Chong should be wiser over why this happened. He should have personally spoken to Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid to find a solution," he said in a statement.

Anuar added that the Education Ministry had made it clear that this was not a slash in Chinese schools funding, only that the money was not being disbursed in one lump sum.

"Chong's statement appears as if he is putting all the blame on the minister.

"As MCA Youth chief and deputy education minister, he should use his words more carefully to avoid creating misunderstanding, particularly among the Chinese community," he said.

Anuar said Chong should give the Education Ministry time to obtain the full RM50 million.

On Tuesday, Mahdzir conceded that budget cuts had affected the allocation for Chinese primary schools but urged that they take whatever partial allocations that were provided.

'Tamil schools not affected'

Meanwhile, MIC said that there was no reduction in money allocated for Tamil schools nationwide.

According to MIC leaders in Johor and Penang, funds are still flowing to Tamil primary schools in their states.

"The allocations for Tamil schools remain the same. Whatever allocations there are, (Deputy Education Minister) P Kamalanathan does a great job in distributing them," said MIC's Tenggorah assemblyperson Raven Kumar Krishnasamy.

Penang MIC Putera chief NG Senthelnathan also confirmed that there was no change in the allocations for Tamil schools.

However, he said, the amount distributed to each school varied.

"If a school needs money to repair or build a new block (then), it will need more money," Senthelnathan said.