MP SPEAKS | The announcement by Education Minister Maszlee Malik to halt the construction of eight yet-to-be-initiated Chinese primary schools (SJKCs) from the construction and relocation plan of the "10+6" Chinese primary schools, is regrettable and goes against the wishes of many Malaysians, to say the least.

“The poor cannot be deprived of their right to education” is a fundamental right towards the promotion and development of Chinese education in our country.

It is heart-wrenching to review or even postpone the construction of SJKCs based merely on cold financial considerations. After all, the construction of SJKCs is not a huge cost, and several developers have chipped in to complete the work.

The so-called financial capability issue is simply a lame argument to make.

It is nonsensical for the education minister to try to justify the halt with claims of ‘‘political motives’’. The high demand of SJKCs is an undeniable fact, distinct from politics.

Local residents of the new communities developed from the urbanisation process, expect additional schools to be constructed. How can construction of SJKCs become politically motivated?

Moreover, the “10+6” project for the construction and relocation of SJKCs was discussed and approved by the previous education minister after consulting the relevant departments within the ministry itself.

All of these were based on well-founded studies and approved by the secretary-general of the ministry and the director-general of education.

Ultimately, the previous minister, Mahdzir Khalid, together with members of the cabinet at that time, secretary-general and director-general, formally announced it to the public. 

This plan has never been the sole achievement of MCA, nor is it a political gimmick. It has been carefully studied and planned, as well as implemented according to the needs of the local Chinese community.

At that time, MCA cooperated with and consulted various Chinese education groups, developers, and professional technical teams to plan and work together, including land surveyors, quantity surveyors, engineers, urban planners, and architects. How can the process not be transparent?

This was the administrative decision of the government and it has nothing to do with politics. The planning process also follows the principle of professionalism. If the current minister has any questions, I welcome him to check with me and I am more than willing to offer my help if needed.

Minister purposely intends to discredit MCA?

Prior to this, I even took the initiative to write to the education minister on June 18, 2018, via the Malaysian Chinese Education Advisory Committee to convey my willingness to report to him and further discuss the implementation plan.

Regrettably, the minister has not only failed to reply nor arrange to meet, he has rashly issued unfounded comments to the media without any evidence. He has yet to raise the proposal for review in the cabinet.

This is an irresponsible practice. Perhaps, he purposely intends to discredit MCA. I think that if the Pakatan Harapan government wants to crack down on and exterminate MCA, there are thousands of ways to do so. However, please spare the SJKCs from unnecessary political persecution.

We expect a better system for the development and construction of SJKCs. The expectation of the Chinese community towards the new government is for them to build additional SJKCs based on demand, and even to allocate funding for the development of SJKCs systematically. Was this not what the Harapan pursues in the past?

If other states are considered to have the same demand for SJKCs, the education minister and the present government can deal with them proactively and fulfill the original commitments they made to the people.

They must not fail to commence the construction of SJKCs which was promised by MOE earlier, and there is no need to postpone the project for their own political agenda.

This will not only slow down the construction of SJKCs, but also put the efforts of many Chinese education groups such as Dong Zong, Jiao Zong, the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia, the Headmasters Union, Malaysia Chinese Language Council down the drains.

I beg the Chinese elected representatives of the Harapan government to contribute to the Chinese community by promoting the development of Chinese education, and stay committed to ensure the continuation of the original plan.

Bring more good news to the Chinese community, instead of merely giving empty talks, and repeatedly delaying.

Do not forget that as a basic human right, education should not and cannot be made a political sacrificial lamb. What SJKCs need is to be nurtured with sound developmental, not political tricks.

WEE KA SIONG is the MP for Ayer Hitam.

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