Chinese schools in demand in Puchong (Good Times article)

Documented proof … Kok (wearing a cap, second from right) and Gobind (far right) displaying evidence of the state government’s approval of the three schools’ application for the Taman Tasik Prima land and its corresponding letter to the MOE, which was rejected. Photos by Yam Phui Yee.

There appears to be a great demand for Chinese schools in Puchong where the population is growing by leaps and bounds.

Petaling District, the fastest growing district in Selangor, covers a large part of Puchong, and includes Shah Alam, Subang Jaya, Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Sungai Buloh and Serdang.

The number of students in the above district went up by 77% in the last 13 years, causing overcrowding in schools. These schools are gaining popularity among Bumiputeras as well. Ministry of Education (MOE) statistics reveal that of the 556,088 students in Chinese national-type primary schools nationwide, 9.15% are Bumiputeras.

“In Petaling District alone, there are 20 Chinese schools with a total of 44,000 students — that is an average of 2,200 students per school. Some classes, especially in Puchong, have more than 50 students per class. This is not healthy and makes it very hard for weaker students to follow the lessons,” said Petaling District Chinese School Development Committee chairman Lim Keh Kuan.

Yet, according to Lim, one new Chinese national-type school had been added to the existing four in Puchong. Puchong’s four Chinese national-type primary schools are the SJK(C) Han Ming (started in 1921), SJK(C) Yak Chee (1930), SJK(C) Sin Ming (1934), and SJK(C) Ladang Harcroft (2008).

In comparison, there are 16 national primary schools and 12 national secondary schools and only three Tamil national-type primary schools in Puchong.

Despite pressing needs, Lim claimed that it had been hard to apply to the government for new Chinese national-type schools, although all property developers are obliged to reserve a percentage of land for school purposes.

Chin (left) … it will be very helpful if there are more Chinese schools here.

“According to the Education Ministry, school land reserves are only for Malay schools (national schools). It’s not for Chinese or Tamil (national-type) schools. I don’t think this is gazetted anywhere,” Lim told GoodTimes.my.

The NGO sought the Selangor state government for land and managed to identify a few suitable plots. To their dismay, the Education Ministry replied that all those plots of land have been reserved for national schools or for other purposes.

The committee and the state government finally found two plots of land in Taman Tasik Prima, Puchong, measuring 13 acres in total.

A state exco meeting last year approved the land to be used by three applicants: SJK(C) Yak Chee for a branch school, SMJK Katholik for a branch school, and the National Autistic Society of Malaysia (Nasom) for a training centre.

This sparked a political crisis between two main Chinese-based political parties — namely the DAP and the MCA — with MCA Youth Chief and Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong claiming that the state had not approved the land but instead, had only provided a support letter.

MCA claimed that the developer of properties in the area had demarcated the two plots of land for schools, but had surrendered them to the state education department under the Federal Government, and therefore, these are not state-owned.

At a press conference later, Kinrara assemblywoman Teresa Kok, of DAP, said that the MOE had replied to her in a letter last December that the land was reserved for two national schools — SK Taman Tasik Prima and SMK Taman Tasik Prima — implying that the land belonged to the Federal Government.

Kok told the press conference of how school land application works. The standard procedure is that firstly, a school applies to the state government for land. When approved, the state applies for a permit from MOE to build a school. After the permit is given, the state issues a land title to the school, which may then proceed with construction.

Herein lies the conflict of the Taman Tasik Prima land.

Kok said that the land belongs to the state and that if the Federal Government intends to build a school, the procedure is for it to apply for a land title from the state through the Department of Director General of Land and Mines (JKPTG) — a Federal Government department. “The land is still under the state. It has not gone through the JKPTG yet,” Kok said on Feb 11.

Choong … hopes the government would fulfill their duty to the people.

GoodTimes.my understands that it was only in February that the MOE enquired about the land with the state government.

Kok confirmed this in an email on Feb 16: “Yes, I was told by my officer that the Education Ministry’s officer tried to apply for the said land (a) few days ago at (the) Petaling land office,” which suggests that the MOE wants to develop the land.

Kok and Puchong member of parliament Gobind Singh Deo rallied for the residents to sign an online petition, urging the Education Minister to issue the permit to build SJKC Yak Chee (2) and SMJK Katholik (2) in Taman Tasik Prima.

“Come down and solve the problem,” Gobind urged the MOE ministers. “We will bring this to Parliament and we will not back down. The ball is now in your court.”

Whatever political mileage that MCA and DAP planned to obtain from this controversy, as far as the parents in Puchong are concerned, all they want is a Chinese school for their children.

“It will be very helpful if there are more Chinese schools here,” said Chin Yin Fong, a mother of three.  She counted herself lucky because she managed to enrol her first child into the nearby SJK(C) Sin Ming, even though the Year One class has some 50 students. She said that all six Year One classes were packed to the brim.

“We are worried that our children can’t get into existing schools next time,” she added.

Her husband, bank manager Lim Chiew Chan, said that they would not mind sending their children to national schools if Mandarin and other languages were given equal lesson hours. “It’s simple. A Chinese must know Chinese (language),” he said.

Another resident, Chan Boon Chew, looks forward to a Chinese national-type secondary school in the neighbourhood so that his daughter can study there.

“There are secondary schools here but mostly are not so reputable, so parents usually send their children to other places,” Chan said.

There is only one Chinese national-type secondary school in the entire Petaling district — SMJK Katholik in Petaling Jaya. Some 1,000 students living in Puchong travel to-and-fro the school, daily.

The school’s board of governor advisor Choong Yew Lim complained that the school had to reject many students annually, due to insufficient classrooms in both morning and afternoon sessions. He hopes that the government would fulfil their duty to the people and approve the branch school building.

Choong related to a conversation between him and Wee, where the deputy minister had apparently told Choong that should the state government issue the land title, the MOE would approve the application to build the school — which is not the standard procedure.

“I said, if they give the title and you don’t approve, you have to resign. He smiled,” said Choong.

Choong hopes that the government would be upfront about the whole issue.  “Our intention is just to have a school,” he said.