Press statement by Nagamuthu Periasamy, Chairman of the SJKT Castlefield School Board, Puchong issued in Shah Alam on 23 September 2011
Nagamuthu Periasamy in the white shirt holding a press conference with YB Teresa Kok this morning.
Education Ministry, Jabatan Ketua Pejabat Tanah dan Galian should not deny knowledge of SJKT Castlefield’s application for school reserve land
I am Nagamuthu Periasamy, Chairman of the SJKT Castlefield School Board. From 1980 to 1996, I worked at the Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia as an inspector of schools and a Lembaga Peperiksaan officer.
I am both shocked and disappointed by MCA Youth National Chairman Wee Ka Siong’s statement issued two days ago where he blindly accused Selangor State Senior EXCO Teresa Kok of misleading SJKT Castlefield in our application for a school reserve land. (Source: http://www.mca.org.my/en/dap-exco-teresa-kok%E2%80%99s-failure-to-sjkt-castlefield-non-comprehension-of-national-land-code-exposed/)
The background of the issue is this. When SJKT Castlefield in Puchong learnt in 2009 that our school land would be encroached upon by 6 LRT pillars in the Ampang LRT line extension project, I purchased the land plan from the Pejabat Tanah Petaling and identified a school reserve land at Wawasan Puchong which would be suitable for our relocation.
I then checked with the Jabatan Pelajaran Negeri Selangor (JPNS) to find out whether that piece of land had been surrendered to state government. JPNS informed me that the land had not been handed over to them.
I then returned to the Pejabat Daerah dan Tanah Petaling and received confirmation from them that the school reserve does not belong to the Federal Government or JPNS.
In 8 December 2009, we attended a meeting with Jabatan Ketua Pejabat Tanah dan Galian Selangor and other government departments to discuss our desire to relocate SJKT Castlefield to that piece of land. I have the minutes of the meeting to prove that they are well aware of our application.
In September 2010, I submitted an application to the Pejabat Dearah dan Tanah Petaling to relocate SJKT Castlefield to that piece of land.
Out of the blue, on 19 September 2011, MCA Puchong announced to the press that SJKC Kheng Chee would be relocated to that same piece of land, and that they expect construction to begin in December 2011.
At this juncture, I approached Teresa Kok for advice as she is the ADUN for Kinrara. She made time to visit our school and listen to our concerns.
Teresa Kok was shocked to hear of what happened. On her own initiative, she checked with Pejabat Tanah dan Daerah Petaling and once again, they confirmed that the land does not belong to the Federal Government.
On 21 September 2011, I received phone calls from the JPNS telling me that they have documents which prove that the land belongs to the Federal Government.
If we had been correctly advised by the officers of JPNS, we would not have applied for that the piece of land and gone through all the hassle.
As for Wee Ka Siong, he has warped this matter into a political issue to make MCA look heroic while maligning Teresa Kok who has never been involved in this matter at all. Wee has not consulted SJKT Castlefield to seek our side of the story. He has not “turun padang” to see our problems. All he has done blindly shoot Teresa Kok for cheap political points.
Wee should put aside his partisan politics and wear his Deputy Education Minister’s hat for once by ensuring that SJKT Castlefield is allowed to relocate to the identified piece of land instead of grabbing it for his party’s political interests.
I assert that the school reserve land in Wawasan Puchong should be given to SJKT Castlefield because there is an urgent need to relocate our school, is the only school reserve land available in the vicinity for the needs of our existing students and their families who reside in the vicinity, and we were the first to submit our application for it.
Nagamuthu Periasamy
DAP EXCO Teresa Kok’s failure to SJKT Castlefield & non-comprehension of National Land Code exposed
MCA HQ, 21 Sept – MCA Youth is hurt with the false accusation hurled by DAP’s YB Teresa Kok who is a senior member of the Selangor EXCO blaming MCA for the allocation of land for the construction of SJKC Kheng Chee, a relocated Chinese primary school to deprive SJKT Castlefield.
These views were expressed by MCA Youth national chairman Datuk Dr Ir Wee Ka Siong at a press conference after chairing a meeting with the MCA Youth EXCO.
Breeding enmity between the Chinese and Indians
“I can’t accept Teresa Kok attempts to stir the Indian community against the Chinese. She is the assemblyman for Kinrara. She should understand the land laws,” highlighted Ka Siong who is also the Deputy Minister of Education.
“I sympathise with the Indian community who have been misled by Teresa Kok,” said Ka Siong when expressing empathy with the school board of SJKT Castlefield. He then explained that they should not have applied through the District Land Office as it was federal land but instead, to apply to the Education Ministry which still has not received any application by the Board of SJKT Castlefield.
It is unfortunate that Teresa Kok blames the Ministry of Education when she failed to advise the Board of SJKT CAstlefield correctly to apply to the Education Ministry.
Meanwhile, Ka Siong also urged DAP not to confuse the Indian community and to help the rakyat. “If you have problems, come discuss with us,” adding that “I am sad to see the Indian community angry at MCA due to the misinformation that MCA is the stumbling block, when DAP could not fulfill their promises.”
Teresa Kok, please stop the blame game just because you could not grant your promise. It is bad enough that DAP tries to pit the Chinese against fellow Chinese, but it is even more alarming that DAP stirs racial divide by instigating the Indian community to be antagonistic against the Chinese community as Ka Siong aptly puts it, “I am saddened that Teresa Kok blames the Education Ministry just for political gain.”
Safeguarding all vernacular schools
During the press conference, Ka Siong also assured to look after the rights of Tamil and Chinese primary schools. “All Tamil and Chinese primary schools are cared for by the Education Ministry. If the land involves acquisition by Prasarana for an LRT project, I’d like to see proper allocation. But compensation is a separate matter. Don’t blame the Education Ministry.
Look up the National Land Code & Learn the procedures involving land allocation for school
“Teresa Kok had promised 8 plots of land and that any school could apply. But after a few months, she told the school to apply to the Education Ministry,” alerted the party youth wing’s chief to the contradictory information and misleading advice provided by the DAP assemblywoman for Kinrara which led to SJKT Castlefield not submitting any applications to the Ministry of Education for land.
“Pakatan Rakyat has held Selangor state for 3 years since 2008 and they still do not know land procedures,” pointed out Ka Siong while next elaborating on the procedures for federal land approval for the purposes of constructing schools.
“During the submission of the layout, certain rules and regulations must be followed. It is standard procedure that in allocating school land, the land will be given by the Director General of the Department of Land and Mines (Ketua Pengarah Tanah dan Galian [KPTG]) to the Ministry of Education after receiving the latter’s application. KPTG comes under the purview of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.”
Land is not allocated by the Education Ministry. Thus, it is not up to the Ministry of Education to approve but up to KPTG to give the approval for federal land. In the case of this land where SJKC Kheng Chee is to be built, KPTG allocated the land to the Education Ministry in 1999.
“It is also not up to the state authorities to approve federal land allocated for schools.” Nevertheless, Ka Siong voiced that he “has no objection of the Pakatan Rakyat state government opts to approve its own state land bank.”
Chronology of SJKC Kheng Chee’s relocation from Ladang Bukit Dinding in Karak to Persiaran Indera, Pusat Bandar Puchong
In 2006, the Board of SJKC Kheng Chee had decided to relocate after all parents including Indian and Malay parents agreed to the move.
On 30 January 2008, the application to relocate was approved by then Education Minister Dato’ Sri Hishamuddin.
SJKC Kheng Chee Board had looked to Puchong area for the school grounds considering the population density in Puchong which is in need of more Chinese primary schools.
In December 2008, SJKC Kheng Chee applied to the Ministry of Education to relocate the school to Puchong. After a long time, the Ministry of Education identified a very suitable area to establish SJKC Kheng Chee.
On 4 July 2011, the Deputy Prime Minister in his capacity as the Minister of Education formally approved the land for the school.
During the press conference, Ka Siong showed all the newspaper clippings and related documents involving the relocation of SJKC Kheng Chee from Karak to Puchong.
There is a pressing need by the Chinese community to have additional Chinese primary schools in Puchong. There are cases of Year One pupils being sent to other places just to be able to enrol in a Chinese primary school owing to shortage of classrooms. What is most important is for the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat government to lay aside their political differences and to cooperate to enable the construction SJKC Kheng Chee as well as to find a suitable piece of land for SJKT Castlefield rather than to compete with each other.
Also present at the press conference was MCA Puchong division chairman Dato’ Wong Hock Aun. Ka Siong is willing to debate Teresa Kok on this issue owing to the irresponsible scapegoating practised by Teresa Kok. “I cannot accept the slander. This exposé reflects that Pakatan Rakyat finds any excuse to avoid being scolded by the rakyat.”
-MCA online-
