Ten Questions on Damansara School and Chinese education for MCA Deputy Education Minister  Hon Choon Kim  to answer in Penang tomorrow

(Penang, Monday): MCA Deputy Education Minister, Datuk Hon Choon Kim has a special assignment in Penang tomorrow, to “beat” the DAP ceramah on the Damansara school controversy at the Penang Chinese Town Hall  on March 8, 2001 to  give his version of the Damansara School controversy to the headmasters, board of governors and parent-teachers’ associations of the state’s Chinese primary schools.

In the past eight weeks, the hitherto unknown and unheard SJK © Damansara suddenly  shot to national and international prominence because of the valiant struggle of the Damansara new villagers to preserve and re-open the 70-year-old Chinese primary school as a model community school for the students in the vicinity and adjacent areas in Petaling Jaya.

Hon should explain why he  and the MCA President, Datuk Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik are the two leading  opponents to the “Save Damansara School” campaign and the greatest obstacle to the “Win-Win” formula of retaining the original Damansara school as a community school in addition to the building of the new Chinese primary school in Tropicana, Petaling Jaya.

Only two days ago, at the briefing on education for MCA’s elected government representatives in Kuala Lumpur,  Ling reiterated the MCA stand for  the closure of the original 70-year 25-classroom  Damansara school - which  runs counter to the wishes and aspirations of the overwhelming majority of the MCA members.

I want in particular to commend former MCA leaders like former deputy president Tan Sri Lee Kim Sai, former vice president Datuk Wong Seng Chow and former secretary-general Datuk Dr. Tan Tiong Hong who were able to put community and national interests above party interests to sign and endorse the SJK© Damansara’s Save Our School (SOS) mass signature campaign at the 52nd MCA anniversary celebrations in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

As one of the two  principal opponents to the preservation and re-opening of the original Damansara school, Hon should answer the following  ten questions on the Damansara School controversy and the  future of mother-tongue education, in particular  Chinese education, when he comes to Penang tomorrow:
 

1. Does Hon agree that the root problem of the Damansara school controversy is the long-standing refusal of the Barisan Nasional government to build new and adequate Chinese primary schools to meet increasing demands for Chinese primary school places not only by Chinese students, but also by Malay, Indian, Kadazan and Iban  students.  In the Petaling district in Selangor, there are 24,518 Chinese primary school students in 14 Chinese primary schools when there should be some 40 Chinese primary schools.  If so, can Hon explain why the MCA is so deadly opposed to the preservation and re-opening of the original Damansara school?
2. Does Hon agree that the original 70-year-old 25-classroom Damansara school is in a better condition, both in terms of infrastructure and facilities, than many schools and would be ideal for a model community school not for  1,400 students but for 500 students in the vicinity and adjacent areas in Petaling Jaya. If so, why the MCA leaders are not prepared to support its preservation and re-opening, as has openly been done by Penang Gerakan State Exco Member, Dr. Toh Kin Win,  signing and endorsing not only the Damansara School “SOS” mass signature campaign, but also endorsing the “I Support SJKC Damansara” mailing list of the DAP Malaysia website declaring his “full and whole-hearted support to the campaign to retain SJK© Damansara and to build another new Chinese primary school in Tropicana” in his email dated 15th February 2001.
3. Does  Hon agree that the principle of  “the minority following the decision of the majority”  does not apply in the Damansara school controversy, especially as  Damansara school started 70 years ago as a community school for the new village and had done a great service to the whole Petaling Jaya area in the past 40 years in providing Chinese primary school places when the government refused to build new and adequate Chinese primary schools to meet increasing needs - and why the MCA is opposed to a “win-win” solution where parents who want their children to continue studying in SJK © Damansara can do so, while parents who want their children to study in a new Chinese primary school nearer where they stay can also have their wish fulfilled.
4. Almost  all the  Chinese newspapers on Thursday  gave front-page headline treatment to the news from an unnamed  MCA Minister  that the Cabinet meeting a day earlier had made a “historic breakthrough for the future of Chinese education” (Dr. Ting Chew Peh’s statement)  where the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad directed the Education Ministry to implement as soon possible the 1999 general election promise to build four new Chinese primary schools and relocate 13 Chinese primary schools, and that the Prime Minister had agreed that the government should build more Chinese primary schools according to need under the Eighth Malaysia Plan.   Can he confirm that the Cabinet had indeed decided on a “historic breakthrough for the future of Chinese education”.
5. If the answer is “yes” to Question 4, can Hon explain why such an important policy was not announced by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad or the Education Minister, Tan Sri Musa Mohamad but had to be leaked to the Chinese media (but blacked out in the Malay and English-language media) by a faceless, nameless “phantom” MCA Minister?
6. The  Barisan Nasional made the promise in 1999 general elections  to build four new Chinese primary schools and relocate 13 Chinese primary schools. For the year 2000, the government budget provided for the  building  of  371 new schools and extensions to 462 existing schools.  If the government could build the new Chinese primary school in Tropicana, Petaling in eight months, why couldn’t the government build the four new Chinese primary schools and relocate 13 Chinese primary schools it promised in the 1999 general elections in the year 2000 alone?   Would the MCA agree to regard this  as a Seventh Malaysia Plan shortfall which the government must make up urgently and treated separately from the Eighth Malaysia Plan?
7. Hon should be categorical and not equivocate to confirm whether the Cabinet last Wednesday had made a decision which marked a "historic breakthrough for the future of Chinese education in Malaysia" that new Chinese primary schools under the Eighth Malaysia Plan would be built according to need - which is more important than the 1999 election promise of  building four new Chinese primary schools and relocation of 13 Chinese primary schools.  Hon  should confirm that the Cabinet decision meant that  new Chinese primary schools would be built according to need under the Eighth Malaysia Plan  - and  that if the need for 250 new Chinese primary schools in the next five years can be established because of the increasing demand for Chinese primary education not only among the Chinese, but also the Malay, Indian, Kadazan and Iban children, then 250 new Chinese primary schools  will be built from now till 2005!
8. With such a “historic breakthrough for the future of Chinese education”, is MCA prepared to accept the invitation of the DAP to sit down with all parties in the Barisan Nasional and Barisan Alternative to reach a national consensus on a New Deal For Mother-Tongue Education in the Eighth Malaysia Plan which could incorporate the  following objectives for Chinese education:
• Build 250 new Chinese primary schools, or 50 new schools a year, under the Eighth Malaysia  Plan.
• RM1 billion special allocation for the 60 Chinese Independent Secondary Schools and the 1,200 Chinese primary  schools to be paid out in the next five years in recognition of their  contribution to nation-building.
• Allow building of new or re-establishment of previous  Chinese Independent Secondary Schools.
• Government recognition of Unified Examinations  Certificate (UEC) of Chinese Independent   Secondary Schools.
9. If so, will the MCA President, Datuk Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik  accept the DAP’s invitation to the first of a series of nation-wide conferences on New Deal for Mother-Tongue Education in the Eighth Malaysia Plan to be held in Kuala Lumpur on March 6, 2001.  Invitations are also extended to the Gerakan President, Datuk Seri Lim Keng Yaik and the SUPP Deputy President Datuk Law Hieng Ding in  their capacity as the  three most senior Cabinet Ministers of their parties who should ensure the incorporation of the New Deal for Mother-Tongue Education in the Eighth Malaysia Plan.
10. Is Hon prepared to accept an invitation to be a speaker at the DAP public meeting on “Damansara School dilemma” to be held at the Penang Chinese Town Hall on Thursday March 8, 2001 either to convince the DAP and the public to abandon the “Save Damansara School” campaign or to be converted to the view that Hon and the MCA Ministers should support the “Win-Win” formula to retain and reopen the original Damansara school in addition to building a new Chinese primary school in Tropicana, Petaling in eight months.

(26/2/2001)