Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, at the Kajang DAP Branch Anniversary Dinner held in Kajang on Thursday, 11th August 1994 at 8 pm
The ‘practical action to support Chinese education’ of MCA Ministers is not so much to raise funds from the Chinese community but to get Federal Government to give dollar-to-dollar allocation to Chinese Independent Secondary Schools and resolve the long-standing problems faced by Chinese primary schools
The Chairman of the Selangor/Kuala Lumpur Federation of Chinese School Boards of Management, Wong See Tow, said at the 88th anniversary dinner of the Confucian Chinese Independent Secondary School a few days ago that the MCA Deputy Education Minister, Dr. Fong Chan Onn, should not just give verbal support to Chinese education but should show practical action to support Chinese education.
The practical action to support Chinese education of MCA Ministers is not so much to raise funds for Chinese Independent Secondary Schools, but to get the Federal Government to give dollar-to-dollar allocation to Chinese Independent Secondary Schools and to resolve the long-standing problems faced by Chinese primary schools.
The 60 Chinese Independent Secondary Schools would require RM600 million to finance its expenditures and development in the next five years, and for the past four decades, if is the Chinese community which had borne 100 per cent responsibility for their financing – which tantamount to a second income tax paid by the Chinese community for national educational development and nation-building in Malaysia.
Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, had publicly acknowledged that the Chinese Independent Secondary Schools are ‘future assets of the nation’, although he had confined his remarks to the Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in Sabah during the recent Sabah state general elections.
The time has come for the MCA Ministers to get Cabinet approval for dollar-to-dollar Federal Government allocation to the Chinese Independent Secondary Schools.
This would mean that the Federal Government undertake funding responsibility for 50 per cent of the RM600 million needed by the 60 Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in the next five years, i.e.RM300 million!
This would be the ‘practical action to support Chinese education’ which should be demonstrated by MCA Ministers in Government and Cabinet.
Other ‘practical action to support Chinese education’ for MCA Ministers is to get the Cabinet to approve the re-establishment of the Yu Hua Chinese Independent Secondary School in Kajang and the Seg Hwa Chinese Independent Secondary School in Segamat, establishment of Kulai Branch School for Foon Yew Chinese Independent Secondary School of Johore Bahru – all of which had been rejected by the Education Ministry.
Furthermore, MCA Ministers should also show ‘practical action to support Chinese education’ by getting Federal Government approval for the establishment of the New Era College being planned at Dong Jiao Zhong education Centre in Kajang.
At the Chinese primary school level, the ‘practical action to support Chinese education’ which MCA Ministers and Deputy Ministers must shoulder is to remove the ‘ultimate objective’ of the national education policy, resolve the acute teacher-shortage for Chinese primary schools which could itself spell its death-knell, secure government recognition for the Chinese Independent Secondary School Unified Examination Certificate for government teacher-training programmes and the building of new Chinese primary schools to meet increasing needs of pupils.
MCA Ministers should explain which Malaysian Chinese is qualified to be made a ‘Tan Sri’ if Sim Moh Yee is not qualified to be made a ‘Tan Sri’
There is another area where MCA Ministers and Deputy Ministers can provide ‘practical action to support Chinese education’. This is to ask the Federal Government to accord national and official recognition to the contributions of Chinese educationists to the cause of education and nation-building.
This is why I had suggested that the MCA Minster should bring to the Cabinet the proposal that Sim Moh Yee should be recognized as one of the most outstanding sons of Malaysia for his life-long contribution, struggle and sacrifices for Chinese education in Malaysia, and should be conferred a ‘Tan Sri’ on National Day on August 31.
If MCA Ministers and Deputy Ministers are not prepared to support the proposal that Sim Moh Yee should be made a ‘Tan Sri’, how could anyone expect UMNO Ministers and leaders to support it?
I would like to ask the MCA Ministers to explain if they regard Sim Moh Yee as not qualified to be conferred a ‘Tan Sri’ then which other Malaysian Chinese is qualified to be made a ‘Tan Sri’?
Liong Sik should not run away a second time from the ‘mutual verification’ appointment at Bukit China next week as I have accepted his challenge to produce the DAP Save Bukit China One-Person One-Dollar account within a week
This morning in Penang, I publicly accepted the latest challenge by the MCA President, Datuk De. Ling Liong Sik, to produce the DAP Save Bukit China One-Person One-Dollar account within a week.
I have asked Liong Sik to confirm within three days by Sunday whether he would are to attend the Kit Siang-Liong Sik ‘mutual verification’ appointment at Bukit China in Malacca, where Liong Sik could raise any questions about the DAP Save Bukit China One-Dollar One-Person account or any other DAP account, but where he must also be prepared to explain all the ‘untidy and unclean’ MCA accounts and scandals.
Last year, Liong Sik also challenged me to produce the DAP Save Bukit China One-Person One-Dollar account within a week, and when I accepted his challenge and fixed July 10, 1993 for the Kit Siang-Liong Sik ‘mutual verification’ appointment in Bukit China in Malacca, Liong Sik had ‘cold feet’ and dared not turn up.
I hope Liong Sik would not run away for a second time from the Kit Siang Liong Sik ‘mutual verification’ appointment in Bukit China in Malacca next week.
I have nothing to hide and this is why I gladly accept Liong Sik’s challenge to produce the DAP Save Bukit China One-Person One-Dollar account. I hope Liong Sik also has nothing to hide and will announce his readiness to attend the Kit Siang-Liong Sik ‘mutual verification’ appointment at Bukit China next week.
At his Kit Siang-Liong Sik ‘mutual verification’ appointment at Bukit China, Liong Sik can ask anything about me and I well answer. However, Liong Sik must be prepared to answer everything I well ask about him!