Press Statement By Chong Chieng Jen:
Chinese schools are now back to the “begging for allocation” era of the Barisan Nasional.
The systematic allocation put in the annual Budgets of the Federal Government by the Pakatan Harapan Government has now been totally removed by the Perikatan Nasional Government in the latter’s 2021 Budget.
Now, the Chinese Schools are back to the old BN days of uncertainty in allocation for maintenance and repair for the schools and the school boards of management will have to resort to the constant “begging” for the goodwill of the Prime Minister and Minister of Education for allocation.
During PH time, not only there was fixed allocation in the Budget for Chinese Schools, the disbursement of the allocation was also very prompt and much of the fund were released in the beginning of the year, allowing the schools boards to do the necessary planning for the year.
With the removal of the systematic allocation, the Chinese School boards of management are now left to beg for allocation, not knowing how much will be allocated and when will the fund be allocated, making it very difficult for the school boards to do the necessary planning.
It seems that, with Muhyiddin, UMNO and PAS forming the core of the Federal Government, it is now back to the old days where the Chinese School Boards will have to wait for elections to get their allocations, if any.
Chong Chieng Jen
DAP Sarawak Chairman
