"Common sense will tell us that it is because all the decisions and selections are made by bureaucrats and technocrats in Peninsular Malaysia who do not have the interests of Sarawak at heart. "
KUCHING, Feb 13, 2015: Sarawak Parti Keadilan Rakyat
(PKR) chairman Baru Bian has told Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin
Yassin to make good his pledge to repair and rebuild dilapidated schools in
Sarawak and Sabah, and not to wait for elections to be called.
"The allocation of RM1 billion pledged in February
last year to repair and rebuild 600 dilapidated schools in two states appears
to have just an empty talk," he said today.
 |
| Baru Bian |
He said that the Education Blueprint states that by
December 2013, all 1,608 schools requiring critical repairs would be fixed and
that these repairs would start in Sabah and Sarawak.
"That too, was just empty talk – almost all the
schools in my area are still in need of critical repairs.
"What is the reason for the dire situation our
Education system is in?" he asked.
He added:"Common sense will tell us that it is
because all the decisions and selections are made by bureaucrats and
technocrats in Peninsular Malaysia who do not have the interests of Sarawak at heart.
"
He said over 50 years later, Sarawak is still languishing
behind West Malaysia. " Am I the only person who thinks that the BN
government has let us down over and over again?" he asked.
He said the statement Muhyiddin, who is also the
Education Minister, that special attention would be given to Sarawak in their
new guidelines implies that federal
government has failed Sarawakians.
"I have said it before, and I will say it again that
education is crucial for our advancement.
"Sarawakians cannot progress and prosper if we
cannot provide proper and superior educational facilities and teachers for our
younger generation.
"We must be responsible for all aspects of
Education, because those civil servants in Peninsular Malaysia are not going to
care about us.
"The minister may say there is no bias and promise
us the moon but he is not the one carrying out the work, at the end of the day.
"The posting of teachers from Peninsular Malaysia is
not an answer to our problems. As (PRS president and Land Development Minister) Tan Sri James Masing said that it is a political problem. Fifty-two years of this is enough. We must
take charge of our own destiny. "
"We need to reclaim control of Education but most
importantly, we need to change the government.
"The Federal Government has made such a mess of it
that we should have the right to take it back and try to restore it to its
former glory," he added.
Baru, who is also State lawmaker for Ba'Kelalan, said he
supports calls for more Sarawakian teachers to be trained and posted in
Sarawak, instead of sending teachers from Peninsular Malaysia.
He said the magnanimous offer by the Education Ministry to
lower the entry requirements so that more Sarawakians can be trained, is a
reflection of the patronising attitude of Peninsular Malaysian politicians
towards Sarawakians.
"They would do well to recall that Sarawak once had
top class civil servants and a superior standard of education. That is, until
we decided to entrust the Federal government with the Education portfolio, and
relinquished control of almost all our government departments to them," he
added.
He said since that Sarawak has been on a downhill slide and
Sarawak ministers, or those of them who care to, have to keep on begging for
better facilities and more funds from the Federal government, often to no
avail.
"Even when funds are promised, they do not seem to
come. The Education Minister admitted it himself in yesterday," he said.
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