ADUN SPEAKS | It is MCA that disappointed the Chinese community, and not the DAP, which has been accused by MCA religious harmony bureau chairperson Ti Lian Ker of painting the community black.

I take up Ti's challenge to show DAP's report card on Chinese education. I will also show MCA our achievements on issues related to Chinese community in Selangor in response.

Although I have been repeating this, I don't mind repeating it again, since MCA deliberately does not understand, or purposely doesn't want to listen to it. What DAP has achieved in Selangor in the the past decade are far beyond the Chinese community.

However, since MCA is only concerned about the Chinese community, let me brief the party on what DAP has done so far.

The Selangor state government has emphasised that we must be fair to all races. We allocate RM4 million for Chinese primary schools and RM2 million for Chinese Independent schools annually.

The Selangor government understands that fellow Malaysians are under tremendous financial pressure after the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST), so we increased the annual allocation for Chinese primary schools to RM5 million.

Land for schools approved as well

Besides allocating funds, Selangor also approved lands for Chinese primary schools. For example, in 2010, a 4.5-acre plot of land, which was applied for since 1980 and rejected seven times by the then BN state government, was approved by us for the Serendah Chinese Primary School.

In the same year, Rasa Chinese Primary School was given a plot of land, 5.6 acres in size. A plot of 7,368 square-feet and 3.744 acres of land were given to Gurney Chinese Primary School and Cheras 11th-mile Chinese Primary School respectively the following year and in 2013, Tiong Nam Chinese Primary School received a three-acre plot of land from the state.

Despite the non-recognition of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) by the federal government, Selangor has recognised it. UEC holders can now enrol in Selangor state-owned universities such as Unisel and KUIS.

However, we are unable to take in UEC Holders into the public service because employment procedure comes under the jurisdiction of the Public Service Department.

Poverty is not categorised by race

The Selangor government under Pakatan Harapan has performed well for the past nine years, compared with the 50 years under MCA/BN. We approved more than 200 plots of land for non-Muslim places of worship in the state and allocate RM6 million annually to them.

Poverty is not categorised by race, which is why we extended the discount rate for housing given to the bumiputera to all Selangorku affordable homes for all Selangoreans, regardless of race, since 2016.

These are only some of our achievements in the past decade, which MCA was not capable of delivering, although the party was in power for more than five decades in Selangor and six decades at the federal level.

Lastly, I would like to call upon all MCA leaders to do their research before pointing their fingers at DAP. Do not forget that when you point your finger at DAP, there are four fingers pointing back at yourself.

Don't try to spread lies among the Chinese community and don't feel proud of the 10 new Chinese primary schools announced recently, for all these are merely an announcement. In-depth details such as the actual locations and allocation of building funds are still unclear.

EDDIE NG is the state assemblyperson for Balakong and DAP Selangor organising secretary.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.