MCA MP breaks rank on Damansara school
Malaysiakini.com
Nov 27, 2006

In a rare move, a MCA parliamentarian today urged the government to come out with a solution for the controversial closure of the SRJK(C) Damansara five years ago.

The call was made by veteran MCA leader Yap Pian Hon (BN-Serdang) in his debate on the Education Ministry’s allocation under Budget 2007 at the Dewan Rakyat this afternoon.

“The public is concerned on the fate of the original Damansara school because there are still a number of students studying (at a temple) next to the original school,” he told the House.

He said the local community is appealing to the ministry to allow these students to use the original Damansara school building, which remains in the area as an empty building.

“There is no solution formula up till today, despite there being a room for this issue to be settled in an appropriate manner by the ministry in accordance to the Education Act 1996,” Yap added.

Ministry, MCA leaders evasive

The vernacular school, which was built in 1930 and the only Chinese primary school in the area, was ordered close by the Education Ministry on Jan 2, 2001, ostensibly because it no longer provided a “conducive learning environment”.

The 1,430 students were told to relocate to a new building in Tropicana that was miles away but the parents felt they were ‘cheated’ because they were earlier promised that the government was to build a ‘branch school’ in Tropicana.

Since then, parents who refused to budge formed a committee with local residents - known as Damansara Save Our School (SOS) Committee - to campaign to reopen the closed school.

The school, with about 50 students, now operates from air-conditioned containers in neighbouring premises belonging to a temple.

The Education Ministry and the MCA leaders have been evasive to talk about the closure of the school, which is also located in MCA Wanita deputy chief Chew Mei Fun’s constituency of Petaling Jaya Utara.

The latest news from the ministry was on Sept 27 last year, when the ministry for the first time in five years officially responded to the appeals by the SOS committee and said it will study the committee’s request.
    
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