RM30m needed for Chinese schools, says Kim Yong

Kuching (Jan 4, 2012): An estimated RM30 million is needed to maintain and renovate 200 Chinese Primary School buildings and to construct new ones in Sarawak, Federation of the Kuching and Samarahan Divisions Chinese Associations president Lu Kim Yong said today.

“The amount is based on the feedback we have collected after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has asked State Minister of Local Government and Community Development Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh to come with the estimates,” he said.

Najib, in one of his visits to Sarawak last year, had asked Wong to come up with the estimates after receiving calls by the Chinese School Board of Management for the Federal Government to allocate financial allocation to Chinese schools in Sarawak.

Wong, in turn, asked the federation to get the feedback from the Chinese School Board of Management.

At a simple ceremony today, Lu handed over to Wong the estimates which the federation had prepared.

Wong, who is also the Second Finance Minister, said he would hand over the estimates to Najib for consideration.

Speaking to reporters, Wong said the state government was in the process of identifying 2,000ha of land suitable for the construction of Chinese School buildings.

Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib, in his dialogue with the Chinese community leaders before the April 16, 2011 state election, had agreed to allocate a total of 2,000ha of land throughout the state for the construction of Chinese schools.

However, the land had not been identified.

Wong, however, stressed that the process of identifying the land took a long time to complete.

“Then there are the problems over  the status of the lands, with the natives claiming that the lands identified as suitable for the construction of the schools are their customary rights lands,” he said.

He said he, being chairman of the state cabinet committee on helping Chinese schools in Sarawak, would be helping the Chinese schools management to raise funds, either from the state and federal governments or from the private sector.

“We want these schools to get sustainable sources of funds rather than on ad hoc basis, which is what is being done now,” he said.

He said getting enough funds had also been a major problem for the Chinese schools as they did not get any annual allocations from the government.

He said Chinese education had been playing a complementary role in helping the government to develop human capital.

Earlier, Wong handed over RM200,000 state government grants to 13 Chinese School Board of Management and Chinese Associations.

He said promised the school board of management and associations to give them the state government grants in his visits last year.- Sematong Express