PUTRAJAYA: It is unhealthy to use racial sentiments in the context of education just to win a by-election.
Disappointed by the action of some quarters, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said their actions would only deny efforts to provide inclusive education and achieve success.
He was referring to criticisms levelled against the government or the Finance Ministry regarding an allocation given to a private college recently.
Lim said the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government tried to help schools and education institutions registered under the Education Ministry within its current financial means.
“With the looming Cameron Highlands by-election, there are some irresponsible quarters who have fanned the racial sentiment as they attempt to discredit the government or the ministry’s action in giving allocation to schools, including the Chinese private schools as well as the New Era College University which was disbursed on Jan 11.
“One must remember that the Barisan Nasional government previously provided allocation of between RM30 million and RM69.25 million in the budget from 2012 to 2018 to the Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TARUC), which is a private college owned by MCA.
“When the allocation was reduced to RM5.5 million in the 2019 budget from RM30 million in the 2018 budget to discourage political meddling in education, I have been labelled as anti-Chinese and pro-Malay,” he said in a statement today.
He also asked if he would be labelled as anti-Chinese and pro-Islam when RM15 million had been approved for Universiti Islam Malaysia, which is a private higher education institution.
Lim added no one should raise the RM2 million allocation for New Era College or to other private college with intention to fan racial sentiment and extremism.
As a true inclusive administration, he said the PH government hoped the people would support the country’s education agenda for all and help in the development of the economy.
“Let the Cameron Highlands by-election be decided based on which party can help to improve the people’s wellbeing and bring development to Cameron Highlands, and not merely by playing the racial sentiment and religious extremism,” Lim said.
Under the 2019 Budget, he said the government had allocated a total of RM652 million to upgrade and provide maintenance to all categories of schools compared to RM615 million in the 2018 budget.
The 2019 budget also includes RM12 million for Chinese private secondary schools (SMPC) last Friday and RM25 million for “sekolah pondok” which did not get any allocation under the 2018 budget.
Lim said the RM25 million allocation was given to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa on Jan 8 for disbursement.
“According to the Education Ministry, there are 151 registered `sekolah pondok’ involving 10,723 students and 107 Sekolah Menengah Agama Rakyat with 24,651 students. These 35,364 students will get benefit worth RM707 each.
“Compared to the SMPC, there are 62 schools with 84,462 students and each of them will get RM142 worth of benefit.”