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| Monday March 5 Lecturer asked to show cause for Internet postings Ng Boon Hooi 8:44pm, Mon: A Universiti Malaya lecturer was asked by the university administration to explain her Internet postings in support of the controversial SJK (C) Damansara in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Associate professor Chia Oai Peng of the Literature and Social Science Faculty received a show-cause letter from the university’s vice-chancellor Prof Dr Anuar Zaini Md Zain, asking her to explain her e-mail postings on the Damansara Chinese school issue in a discussion group last month. In the letter dated Feb 6, Anuar said that he was informed by the education minister’s special officer that Chia had send a number of Internet postings in support of retaining the 70-year-old Chinese school, and thus violated the university’s rules. He added that Chia has used her university’s e-mail account to send the messages, which are based on the inaccurate facts and allegations. Anuar is asking Chia to explain the Internet postings before the university takes further action on the matter. He told Chia that according to the Statutory Bodies Act 2000 (Disciplinary and Surcharge) (Akta Badan-badan Berkanun 2000, Tatatertib dan Surcaj), Regulation 18 (1), a university officer cannot make public statements, whether oral or written, that criticise government policies without written approval from the education minister. In addition, an officer cannot make any public statements that can bring embarrassment to the government. According to Anuar, Chia’s statements have touched on government policies, hence they can be regarded to have violated the regulation mentioned. New school ‘hijacked’ In January, students at SJK (C) Damansara were directed by the Education Ministry to temporarily transfer to SJK (C) Puay Chai (II) - a few kilometres away - while awaiting the completion of the new building in Tropicana. The authorities have been unable to provide a clear explanation as to what would happen to the 70-year-old school and its abandoned site. The majority of the students have moved to Puay Chai (II) but 74 have stayed put and are continuing their classes at a neighbourhood temple. Chia, who is a former member of the Parent-Teacher Association of the school, told malaysiakini that the postings referred to in the show-cause letter were believed to be on SJK (C) Damansara egroups. She said that she posted her messages to correct some erroneous information on the issue. According to Chia, the Damansara school was initially slated to move to Bandar Utama, which is closer to the old site. However, that plan was ‘hijacked’ by a number of influential individuals, who turned the allocated Bandar Utama school to Puay Chai (II). “SJK (C) Damansara was approved for relocation to BU3 (Bandar Utama) school, which sits on a six-acre land and is a completely-built school. Refer to YB Lum’s (Gerakan state assemblyman for Bukit Lanjan, Lum Weng Keong) Jan 2001 press release and the letter from the Education Ministry to SJK (C) Damansara dated April 3, 2000,” wrote Chia in the e-mail posting. “Unfortunately, Puay Chai (II) has hijacked the BU3 school from SJK (C) Damansara and the latter is later forced to share (tumpang) with Puay Chai (II). “Those involved in the hijacking include a Chinese education ‘philanthropist’, minister, and government officers who are all Chinese, and a member of the board of governors from Puay Chai who had volunteered to sit on the SJK(C) Damansara board of governors and the committee for relocation. “If you read the Chinese dailies, you would have read their press statements after the hijacking is disclosed to the public. The press statements denied (the) hijacking, but explained how it was done.” Chai added that to solve the Damansara school issue, the Education Ministry should allow the old school to continue operating. “Such (a) decision should not jeopardise the construction of the (new) SJK (C) Damansara school in Tropicana,” she added. Education Ministry to blame Chia, however, believed that the main reason for the university action against her was because of an open letter she wrote to major Chinese dailies on Jan 15. Her article entitled ‘Abel and Cain’, published in Sin Chew Jit Poh, explained that in early April last year, the Education Ministry has approved the allocation of one of the six newly-built national primary schools to SJK (C) Damansara. “But a week later, Deputy Education Minister Hon Choon Kim announced to the press that the new school is given to Puay Chai,” she wrote. She said that the news came as a surprise to the authorities of the Damansara school and they sought a meeting with the deputy minister. But the deputy minister and state assembly representatives refused to see them. In the article, Chia argued that Puay Chai (II) should hand over its building to SJK (C) Damansara and move to the new building being built in Tropicana instead of the latter. After the publication of the article, supporters of the old school have shifted the blame from the school’s board of governors to the Education Ministry for robbing SJK (C) Damansara of the Puay Chai (II) site. |
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| Saturday February 3 A school of thought - are we missing something? Zakiah Koya 3:24pm, Sat: On Thursday, two Chinese newspapers, Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh, reported “exclusively” that the new SRJK (C) Damansara school in Tropicana would be completed within eight months with a Finance Ministry allocation of around RM9 million. After more than a month of “tug-of-war” between the Education Ministry, which had ordered the students to move out of the old premises to another school at the start of the current term, and parents and students who disagreed with the decision, it appeared that one positive development had at last arrived. Although the authorities say that they have yet to choose a plan for the new school, construction is due to start in two weeks’ time and it could be completed as early as eight months or, the latest, by the end of this year. The new campus will have 36 classrooms to accommodate 3,000 students, who are expected to move in by next year. The question is, why did the education ministry not inform the disgruntled parents who refused to move to Puay Chai (2) of this plan much earlier? If the school could be completed in eight months, why can’t those that do not want to move to Puay Chai (2) stay on in the old school and then move to Tropicana once the school is completed? How is it that developments under the Eighth Malaysia Plan, which has yet to be passed, be brought forward at such speed in a system that is riddled with bureaucracy? And why, then, the ultimatum from the Education Ministry that SRJK (C) Damansara students “must move”? Then again, will the children really be in a “safe environment” and a bigger school when the new school is completed? Why the hurry? A new finding brought to malaysiakini’s attention is that the proposed 5.5-acre-plot in Tropicana only has 0.6 acre which is “usable” land. The rest comprise a big ravine and safety barriers from a reservoir, high tension wires and roads. The endangered school is presently on 0.8 acre - bigger than the proposed school’s “usable” land area. It defies logic when the reason for the move is that the present school is congested and is unsafe for the children. And the question looms again: What is the hurry about? What is on the land of the present school that is so “valuable” that all authorities - from the ministers to the ruling parties - are so “desperately eager” to move the children to Puay Chai (2) or, for that matter, to any other school? One can only gather bits and pieces and put the puzzle together. Yet, the jigsaw puzzle will never be complete for there is only so much that the authorities are willing to say. “Move for the sake of the children,” the education minister said. “The school is polluted and the majority have moved. The minority should follow the majority,” said MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik. The opposition is politicising the issue, said various ruling coalition leaders. Yet, all this does not seem to hold any water for the 67 parents who insist that their children go to the school nearest to their home, which they have built and maintained all through 70 years. The statements of the authorities and those who support the move to Puay Chai (2) are rebutted with: “If they truly care for the children, they would not make the children move to Puay Chai (2). They are educators and they should know that the best for the child is the school nearest to their homes. Why the move when there is nothing wrong with the school? If the majority have moved, that does not mean everyone else has to move. What is going to happen to the school? They do not tell us. We want to know. We did not build the school and maintained this for 70 years so that they can flatten it down in one day!” said a parent. “Yes, the opposition will politicise the issue. It is the people’s issue - it is their right to save the school which they themselves built. The authorities are up there because the people put them up there. Thus, they cannot simply direct the people as they wish without taking into account the people’s views and wants,” said an opposition member. Dilemma Despite the Education Ministry having made the final decision on the SRJK (C) Damansara school issue, the 67 parents remain adamant and determined to keep the school running again. There must be a reason - a very good reason - for 67 parents to be risking the education of 67 of their children - by refusing to go along with the directive of the ministry to relocate. The Education Ministry, too, having made the final decision, seems to be in a dilemma. Although its minister says that the ministry would not entertain the 67 parents’ request to have the school reopened, his deputy seems to have a problem of keeping quiet. He still issues statements. He has not much of a choice, really, for he is hounded by the parents in and out of the ministry. The reason must be good enough, for these parents seem to have nothing to lose; all they have is a hope for a brighter future for their children. They do not drive posh cars and they do not have big houses. They do not earn big money and they do not own big businesses. To an outsider, there seems to be no logic to go through all this trouble just so as to be able to see their children continue studying at a school near to their homes. However, for an outsider, the question remains: Is there a gold mine on the land of the school that only some people know about? DAP’s Ronnie Liu said a developer had told him that the land alone is worth RM20 million and should there be an upmarket 20-storey condominium built on that plot of land, the market price will easily reach RM360 million! Now, who needs a 70-year-old school if you can make RM360 million? |
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| STREET JUSTICE More Malaysians ready to rock the boat By Anil Netto Some 500 Malaysians with lighted candles gathered to protest against a government decision on March 2. But for observers accustomed to Malay anti-government protests in recent months, the gathering looked somewhat different. For one thing, it was not a reformasi demonstration. The protest was organized by an "SOS committee" trying to save a school; the crowd sang songs and held lighted candles, the flickering flames bathing the school walls with a warm glow. The candlelight vigil was followed by a jumble sale of fresh vegetables and cut flowers to supporters. Oh, and the crowd was largely ethnic Chinese. The vigil to save the Damansara Chinese vernacular school in Kuala Lumpur appears to reflect a new trend. While Malay dissatisfaction has been apparent through regular reformasi demonstrations since September 1998, observers have noted that many non-Malays have tended to remain on the sidelines. But in recent weeks, more non-Malay groups appear to be asserting their rights and taking a stand on specific issues while remaining non-partisan. This is in contrast to their previous passive attitude and reluctance to rock the boat. The Damansara school case is without doubt a case of defiance against officialdom and has drawn national attention. Parents of 67 pupils are holding out against an Education Ministry decision to close the Chinese school and relocate them to the Puay Chai (II) Chinese vernacular school farther away while a new school at nearby Tropicana is built. Although 95 percent of the children have already relocated, the remaining 67 are staying put. The parents insist that these 67 will study in makeshift classrooms near a temple in their area until the ministry reverses its decision and reopens the school. Education Minister Musa Mohamed said in Kuala Lumpur on March 2 that the decision to close the school was final and would not be reviewed. "We have made up our minds and our stand on the matter remains unchanged," he declared. But the parents have other ideas. One parent was reported in the Sun newspaper as saying, "We all have no problem waiting. The message is that we want our school back." The SOS committee is the latest such body to be formed. When rent control was lifted last year in the historical Chinese enclave in Georgetown, the capital of northern Penang state, the largely ethnic Chinese low-income tenants were put in a fix. With rental payments soaring and alternative affordable housing scarce, the residents banded together to form a group called "SOS Penang". The group has lobbied the Penang state government to look into their plight and its initiatives have put the tenants' plight in the spotlight. In another display of residents' power, in Kuala Lumpur 17 resident associations representing more than 60,000 households met eight members of parliament and state assembly representatives on February 28 to protest an impending toll imposition on a highway that runs through their area. The associations have pointed out that the highway was built over an old toll-free road in their neighborhood. Most of the highway's cost, they have argued, was incurred elsewhere and they are therefore pushing for a lower toll rate at the Sprint-Damansara link toll plaza in their neighborhood. A news report showed a picture of a group of Chinese members of the Petaling Jaya Residents Action Committee displaying "No Toll" car stickers for the press. In nearby Shah Alam, the capital of central Selangor state, the Roman Catholic archbishop filed an application on February 9 for judicial review in the High Court to challenge the Selangor state's decision to withdraw its approval for the construction of a church and community hall. The controversy over the on-off approvals for the proposed church and alternative sites offered to the church goes back a long way. A report in the March 4 edition of The Herald, a fortnightly church newspaper, said the Catholic community in Shah Alam has been waiting for more than 10 years for its own church and would be put to unnecessary hardship in having to wait for an indefinite period for a church to be built. "Having been twice relocated for no satisfactory reason, there is every likelihood that the site would be relocated from time to time without any church ever being constructed," said the Herald report. While non-Malay groups are resorting to their own initiatives to resolve disputes and highlight grievances, the Malaysian Chinese Association, the No 2 party in the ruling coalition, has been rocked by a rift among its top leaders. That adds to the woes facing the main party in the coalition, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), already trying to stem eroding Malay support over alleged abuse of power and the leadership's treatment of jailed former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim. On Saturday evening, a large crowd of opposition supporters thronged Jitra in northern Kedah, the home state of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, to mark the end of a weeklong fair to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opposition Islamic party (PAS). Also at the rally was the president of the National Justice Party (Keadilan), Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Anwar's wife. The AP wire service estimated the crowd at "more than 25,000". That's telling and analysts say such rallies are making the government jittery. Said a foreigner working in Malaysia: "From reading the newspapers here, I get the sense that they are referring to something between the lines, but I can't quite place my finger on it." That lingering "something" - erosion of support for Umno and the lack of economic reforms - could perhaps explain why the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange remains in the doldrums despite rosy GDP figures for 2000. Ruling coalition politicians are now warning the people that the opposition is planning more demonstrations to "topple" the government. This, they argue, is undemocratic and would jeopardize the nation's stability. "If the people really want to throw out this government, they can do so in the elections," said Mahathir, in power for 20 years. The problem with that is the next election is only due in 2004. And given the disquiet among sections of the population, three years is an awfully long time in Malaysian politics. 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