[Krisis SRJKC ini bakal menjerut kredibiliti MCA dan BN. Kesediaan kaum Cina berkorban secara sukarela dan berjuang untuk satu sekolah lama amat menakjubkan. Dengan membiarkan krisis ini terlalu lama - maruah kerajaan akan semakin tercemar. Kini kes ini sudah tersebar ke seluruh negara dan kerajaan BN semakin malu dibuatnya. Malah rakyat pelbagai kaum sanggup ke jalanraya untuk menuntut sekolah lama dikembalikan seperti sediakala. Ini semua tanda kebangkitan rakyat sudah BERMULA. - Editor]

The Singapore Straits Times

8th March 2001

School row: Villagers dig heels in

They bring in five air-conditioned containers for use as classrooms as they refuse to move from the site of their old school to a new location

By Leslie Lau
IN KUALA LUMPUR

FOR the residents of Damansara village in Petaling Jaya near here, the Yeong Leong Beow temple has always been the focal point of community activities.

For 74 of their children, it is also their school.

Showing their defiance, the villagers bring in five air-conditioned containers for use as classrooms. Their fight has gained sympathy from the Chinese community nationwide. -- UTUSAN MALAYSIA

When the school semester began in January, students at the Damansara Chinese Primary School were told that they had to move to another school nearby, pending completion of a new building 5 km away.

More than 1,000 students, who do not come from the village, complied with the ministry's directive.

But the villagers' children stayed put and have since been attending classes conducted by volunteer teachers on the temple premises, located just a stone's throw from their old school.

On Tuesday, the villagers brought in five air-conditioned containers for use as classrooms in an indication that the dispute would be drawn out.

Inside a container, volunteer teacher K.S. Lee holds a class for pupils of the Damansara Chinese Primary School.

'We want the government to know that we are not moving until our original school is reopened,' said villager Lee Sang, whose three grandchildren are studying there.

The villagers' demands are simple: they want the government to reinstate classes at the old school.

'This school was built by the villagers 71 years ago,' Mr Lee told The Straits Times.

'We raised funds and donated our own money for it. So why should we send our children to another location now?'

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Hon Choon Kim said the government only agreed to relocate the school at the request of the school's own board of trustees.

But the villagers claim the new school is too far from their homes and they would incur additional costs sending their children there.

But wherever the fault may lie, Datuk Hon's party, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), is finding itself embroiled in a controversy it does not want to get into.

The MCA's traditional political opponent, the Democratic Action Party, is taking full advantage of the issue and its Selangor party chief Ronnie Liu is the adviser to the villagers.

The villagers' fight to keep their school has gained sympathy from the Chinese community throughout the country.

A businessman donated the containers while others have sent food and school supplies.

So far, the villagers have collected more than RM200,000 (S$93,000).

They take turns to volunteer their services at the temple, cooking for the children and cleaning up.

Mr S.Y. Ong acts as headmaster with a staff of nine volunteer teachers.

'We are doing this because we believe what has happened is unfair. None of us gets a salary and, in fact, we spend our own money.'

Dispute over relocation

THE Damansara Chinese Primary School has been in existence for 71 years.

But when the school semester began in January, the villagers were told that their school would be closed for good.

The Education Ministry said that the school was too near a new highway and that the school's board of trustees asked for it to be relocated to a new site 5 km away. But the villagers do not want to move.