BN govt used to channel sin tax to vernacular schools, says Khaled

Umno vice-president Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the previous BN government used to funnel funds collected from alcohol and gambling industries to fund vernacular schools and Chinese temples.

“Such was the practice of the BN government in the past.

“Because we believe that government money from gambling and alcohol proceeds should not be given to mosques.

“We give it to temples, give it to vernacular schools, and that’s the practice continued by the current government,” he said during a speech at the Gombak Umno division meeting today.

It should be noted that Chinese schools have been working with brewery companies to organise fundraising concerts for decades.

In addition, since 2011, the vernacular schools have also received donations from "Jana Pendidikan", a fund set up by a consortium that owns Da Ma Cai.

On that note, Khaled questioned Perikatan Nasional’s stance on the matter since the coalition never took action against this practice while they were in power.

“If that’s not right, why didn’t they stop this practice when they were the government?” he asked.

Public uproar

His remarks came after a public uproar against Tiger-Sinchew Chinese Education Fundraising Concert as Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Aiman Athirah Sabu was seen holding a mock cheque featuring the beer brand’s logo.

Previously, the Education Ministry said it is retaining existing guidelines that ban schools from accepting contributions from the proceeds of alcohol, drugs, gambling and similar activities deemed harmful to student development.

However, it said vernacular schools may still accept donations from the administrative board as has been practised in the past.

Elaborating, Khaled acknowledged that DAP had gained popularity among the Chinese voters and expressed his opinion that Umno should help combat these types of attacks against the government to regain the masses’ trust again.

READ MORE: KINIGUIDE | How concerts help Chinese schools raise money

“So for this matter, Umno members need to help out as well. We can’t leave it to Megat Zulkarnain (Selangor Umno chief) alone so that we can regain the public’s trust,” he said.

Four days ago, Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh condemned DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke for seeking to revise the government’s guidelines on vernacular schools receiving donations from brewery companies.

Akmal defended the Education Ministry guidelines saying it’s the right thing to do, as it is morally frowned upon if any academic institutions accept funds from beer companies.

In the aforementioned statement by Loke, he said he would raise the issue in a cabinet meeting as the fundraising concerts for Chinese schools have been ongoing for 30 years and never had a problem until an opposition leader raised the issue.

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