Johor DAP chief Liew Chin Tong today slammed the state Education Department for threatening a private Chinese high school that had rented out its hall to DAP.

While noting his appreciation for the school in being willing to rent out its hall, Liew said the caretaker government should treat both sides (government and opposition) fairly.

"It's a caretaker government and it should treat both sides fairly. Under a fair system, both sides can use public space. But we cannot rent such space.

"If they don't rent, we have no choice but use a lorry to hold our ceramah. We even have rented empty land to hold it. And the crowd has to bear with mosquito bites

"We protest the action by the Johor Education Department, which is despicable,” Liew (photo below) said after attending an event in Kluang.

Read more: ‘Why can schools wave Umno flags, but not rent halls to DAP?’

Chinese newspaper Sin Chew Daily reported today that the Pei Chun High School (Independent) had received a warning letter from the Johor Bahru Education Department on April 5.

The letter allegedly warned the school in Pontian that its management risked invoking an RM5,000 fine or possible jail time, or even both, should it rent out its hall to DAP.

The legal provision for the fine and jail term was not specified in the letter.

When contacted, the school’s board of directors chairperson, who only wished to be identified as Lim, told Malaysiakini that he hoped the Education Department would not penalise the school.

He said the school has since decided against allowing political parties to hold events on its premises.

Sin Chew Daily reported that Lim said the school had received verbal warnings from the department.

“Besides receiving a warning letter from the Johor Bahru Education Department, an education officer came to the school and verbally advised us against renting out our hall to DAP,” he was reported as saying.

The event went ahead last night nonetheless, although DAP flags were absent and the party promised that it would not rent the hall in the future.

Malaysiakini is attempting to contact the Johor Bahru district Education Department for comment.

Vital revenue stream

Lim added that the school had not been served with any warning letters when it rented out the same hall to BN component parties Gerakan and MCA just last month.

“Pei Chun High School has always rented out its hall to any political party.

“As long as the events follow the guidelines and do not comprise illegal activities, the school has welcomed it,” he told Sin Chew, adding that this had been the norm over the past decade.

He said the hall was the school’s property and the PTA risked losing its autonomy over one of its key revenue streams if the Education Department chose to interfere with rental matters.

Meanwhile, MCA Pulai Sebatang assemblyperson Tee Siew Kiong told Sin Chew Daily that he had helped mediate the crisis by advising the school to abide by the department’s requirements.

He also suggested that DAP not display its flags at the event.

According to Tee, the position of the Education Department was that politics should be kept out of schools – which applied to all political parties and not just DAP.

At the event last night, DAP Pekan Nanas assemblyperson Yeo Tung Siong challenged caretaker deputy education minister and MCA Youth chief Chong Sin Woon to publicly promise he would not take action against Pei Chun High School.

Yeo also pointed out that in 2014, the head teacher of a Chinese primary school in Pekan Nanas was transferred after the school rented out its hall to him (Yeo) in 2014.

He warned that Pei Chun could suffer the same fate and said the autonomy of independent Chinese schools across the country would be threatened if such incidents continued.