Joint Statement Released by Dong Zong and Jiao Zong

October 29, 2021

Dong Zong and Jiao Zong were perturbed to learn that the ongoing school construction of Puchong SJK(C) Too Joon Hing was instructed to halt by the Secretary General of the MOE sine explanation. With the deepest regret, Dong Zong and Jiao Zong forward their joint statement herewith:

1. Dong Jiao Zong understands that the construction of Puchong SJK(C) Too Joon Hing was approved by the MOE in October 2017, which was one of the ten new Chinese primary schools to be constructed. Currently, construction is underway and it is scheduled to be completed in 2023 for the benefits of the students. Yet a directive letter was issued to the school authority on 25 October 2021 unexpectedly by Yusran Shah Mohd Yusof, the Secretary General of the Education Ministry, to stop the construction without explanation, to the deepest regret and perturbance of Dong Jiao Zong.

2. As per the Deputy Education Minister Mah Hang Soon’s response when interviewed by journalist, this act of the ministry was said to reassess all the data and documents submitted by SJK(C) Too Joon Hing to clarify if the current location of the school fits into the standard operation procedure. Dong Jiao Zong reckons from the very outset, SJK(C) Too Joon Hing had been approved to construct, change the construction location and start construction congruent with the standard operation procedure approved and formulated by the previous MOE. Therefore, the halt of the ongoing construction out of the blue is unintelligible and irrational which leaves the school authority in limbo hence revealing the unprofessionalism of the MOE.

3. With this understanding, Dong Jiao Zong urges the MOE to address the matter immediately to ensure smooth construction of the said primary school for the interest of national education. In actual fact, since the approval of the construction, the construction project of SJK(C) Too Joon Hing has been postponed for four consecutive years, and now that the agreement is broken unexpectedly. Truth be told, Chinese communities fear that the construction project would not be completed as scheduled which is what most people hate to see.

4. Ten new vernacular Chinese primary schools were approved to be built in October 2017, though several approved schools have not begun their construction until today; one of these schools, Tan Kah Kee Chinese primary school’s construction permit was transferred to SJK(C) Chung Ching clandestinely in December 2018 to be SJK(C) Chung Ching 2. This translates, the ten schools have been reduced to nine thus far. Now that the construction of SJK(C) Too Joon Hing has again experienced twists and turns which accelerates the difficulty of the problem, particularly the opaque decision of the government which will surely give rise to discontentment among the Chinese communities.

5. Dong Jiao Zong maintains, the additional construction of vernacular Chinese primary schools has long been the sole hope of the Chinese communities to address the insufficiency of Chinese primary schools. Since independence, vernacular Chinese primary schools have been part of the main stream education system. That said, the government has the obligation to unify the school construction system and treat schools of other streams equally, let alone to be fully responsible for all construction expenses and the reservation of school land for school construction of all streams formally, Chinese and Tamil inclusive, in order to solve the school construction matter once and for all.