Grant debunks claim SJKCs neglected — Wee

KOTA KINABALU: A disbursement of RM6.565 million to government-aided Chinese national type schools (SJKC) here yesterday, once again debunked the opposition’s “wild” claims that the government had neglected vernacular schools in Malaysia.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong said that instead, the allocation was another testament to the federal government’s continuous commitment towards those schools nationwide.

“This has once again wiped out all the wild accusations that the SJKCs are being marginalized,” said Wee at the federal government cheque handing over ceremony at SJKC Chung Hwa Likas here, yesterday.

“Through outright grants given to school management boards, excluding the SJKC mission schools, the total has reached RM68 million.

“This simultaneously solves the problem of dangerous buildings in eight years.

This number is great as it includes the 13 mission schools in the SJKC category,” he added.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Chong Sin Woon echoed Wee’s sentiments and singled out Penang chief minister’s January 28 claim that, compared to the Barisan Nasional government, the DAP-led Penang government does not dilly dally when it comes to disbursing school allocations.

“Later on, we found out those who went to the ceremony did not even receive a cheque, only a mock cheque with empty envelopes.

“They had to go back to school and wait. That is only over 80 schools. After two months, they have yet to complete the actual disbursements. Up to March 1, there are still schools that had not received their cheques.

“They make fun of us, but we have more than 800 schools throughout Malaysia. We took one month to complete. The fact is they like to ‘temberang’, ‘kelentong’ (trick) the rakyat that only the Penang government takes care of Chinese schools. That is all incorrect,” he said.