Tuan Ibrahim invited to tour Chinese school, stop misinformation

Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung has invited PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man to tour Chinese vernacular schools after the latter demanded all educational funds to be channelled through the Education Ministry to ensure fairness.

“I urge PAS to stop creating more misinformation in our diverse society to avoid exacerbating social division and misunderstanding.

“I hereby openly invite Tuan Ibrahim (above) to visit any Chinese national-type school in our country.

“I am willing to do my best to attend and explain to him the history of Chinese education, the Chinese community’s near-religious fervour towards education, and the contributions of Chinese national-type schools to a diverse society.

“Replacing misunderstanding with dialogue, and bridges instead of fireworks, is the promised future of our country,” he said in a statement today.

Yesterday, Tuan Ibrahim reportedly claimed that Chinese schools have better facilities than national schools because the government is allocating more funds to national-type schools.

“Look at the facilities Chinese national-type schools have compared with many dilapidated schools in rural areas.

“Allocations should be given per capita. It is unfair for a school with a few students to receive a large allocation and vice versa,” he was quoted as saying.

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He claimed if all education funding was distributed through the ministry, then dilapidated national schools would be able to receive the necessary attention.

Unequal allocations

Tuan Ibrahim was reportedly responding to a statement by Chinese educationist Kua Kia Soong, who was speaking on the recent controversy about Tiger Beer’s involvement at a school fundraising event in Sepang, Selangor.

Kua said while he does not condone the involvement of breweries in such fundraising events, Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools are forced to do so due to unequal allocations from the government.

“Do the ‘national’ schools need to raise funds like the Chinese and Tamil schools? You know they do not need to do so.

“PAS should therefore make this their manifesto to ensure that Chinese and Tamil schools are given fair and proportionate financial allocation by the government and never have to rely on breweries for funds,” he said.

Lee said that while Chinese schools appear to be better equipped, this has not always been the case.

Citing his alma mater as an example, he said SJK(C) Pei Chai used to hold its assemblies in an unpaved area. Whenever with wind blew, it looked like a scene from a movie, and everyone would be covered in dust, he recalled.

“However, through years of gradual accumulation, fundraising, repairs, and construction, today my alma mater, SJK(C) Pei Chai in Kuantan, is the largest Chinese primary school on the East Coast, with relatively decent facilities.

“This is related to the Chinese community's dedication to education, the success of community-based school management, the close cooperation of the board, the parent-teacher association, and the alumni association, as well as resource mobilisation from the public over the decades.

“Even within the Chinese community, the history of Chinese education cannot be fully explained in a few words, let alone to a non-Chinese community filled with exclamations and questions,” he said.

‘Baseless claims’

In a separate statement, Miri MP Chiew Choon Man condemned Tuan Ibrahim's claims as “simply not true”.

“His claims are not only baseless but also a blatant attempt to politicise a matter that should be above partisan interests,” he said.

Contrary to Tuan Ibrahim’s claims, Chiew said the government provides equitable funding to all national schools regardless of their classification.

“For national-type schools, including Chinese and missionary schools, the government does provide a certain level of maintenance funding.

“However, the rest of the resources for these schools come from public donations and community support – a well-established practice that has allowed vernacular schools to thrive and serve the diverse educational needs of our nation,” he added.

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