Rayer hits back at Urimai chief over Sg Bakap Tamil school

SG BAKAP BY-ELECTION | A Penang DAP MP today questioned why P Ramasamy did not push for the construction of a Tamil school in Sungai Bakap while serving as the state’s deputy chief minister.

Jelutong MP RSN Rayer pointed out that Ramasamy, who is now using the issue to campaign against Pakatan Harapan in the Sungai Bakap by-election, was also Penang's Tamil school board chairperson for 14 years.

“On TikTok, Ramasamy claimed this project has been abandoned and the federal government has not shown any indication to complete the project.

“Urimai (United for Rights of Malaysian Party) usually appeared during by-elections, first in Kuala Kubu Baharu and now Sungai Bakap,” said Rayer during a press conference with a group of Indian lawmakers in Parliament.

“I would like to ask him now what efforts did he take when he was the chairperson to ensure completion of the project.

“My advice to him is that please do not use Tamil schools as a form of political gimmick to influence Indian voters and try to dissuade them from going out to vote for Harapan,” he said.

Budget insufficient

Ramasamy, who is now Urimai pro-tem chairperson, questioned the federal government’s commitment to expedite construction of a new building for SJKT Sungai Bakap on a nearby 4-acre land.

The new building’s construction was allocated RM3.5 million and was initially scheduled for completion this year.

“Since the allocated budget was not sufficient, the building came to a halt.

“The contractor estimated that the completion of the school would need an additional budget of nearly RM15 million from the federal government,” said Ramasamy.

Ramasamy also claimed Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek, who is Nibong Tebal MP - the parliamentary constituency where the school is located - has so far only offered a “token sum of RM50,000” as contribution towards the total amount needed.

Meanwhile, Rayer today highlighted a Dewan Negara written reply from the Education Ministry to Senator Dr RA Lingeshwaran, dated March 25, on the current status for construction of SJKT Sungai Bakap.

According to the Education Ministry, the initial RM3.5 million budget was a “one-off special allocation” because SJKT Sungai Bakap is a government-assisted school where a board of governors is responsible for raising funds for any building construction or maintenance.

The ministry said only initial construction work has been completed as of March this year and the project was halted after the board of governors failed to raise more funds needed.

However, the ministry said it had formed a coordination committee tasked to discuss related issues with the school’s board and future actions will be taken after an auditor has been appointed to evaluate the actual costs involved.

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