Media statement by Lau Weng San in Petaling Jaya on Wednesday, 8^th February 2012:

MCA's Dr. Kow Cheong Wei is as delusional as his party youth leader Wee Ka Siong on the Chinese school land issue

MCA Youth Selangor state chairman Dr. Kow Cheong Wei is helplessly lost when it comes to the issue of the state's school land allocated to Chinese schools SJKC Yak Chee and SMJK Katholik. His senseless attack on Selangor Senior State Exco Teresa Kok is an act of an irresponsible politician.

In a statement released today, Dr. Kow has rudely labelled Teresa Kok things she is not. He appears to be utterly misled by his party youth chief Wee Ka Siong in believing that the Selangor state government has not allocated land for the schools. Dr. Kow also accused the PR-led state government of only providing a support letter to the ministry for the schools' building and not the land approval. This is misleading.

The fact is that the Selangor state government has approved the allocation of the school land but the Education Ministry (MOE), where Wee is deputy minister, has rejected the schools' wishes to build its branches on the allocated land. Teresa Kok, and other members of the Selangor state government, has clarified this matter on numerous occasions while providing written evidence on the matter.

The evidence includes the state EXCO paper on the decision - Kertas MMK. No. 46/40/2011; a letter dated 30 September 2011 from the state government to the MOE informing them the decision of the approved land; and the MOE's written reply on 25 November 2011 rejecting the request to allow the schools to build their branch structures on the school reserved land.

The Education Act 1996 requires the state government to get approval from the MOE for the building of school structures before the state government provides land titles to the schools. Therefore, it was necessary for the state government to write to the ministry to inform them of the Exco decision to allocate the land and to get the ministry's approval for the schools to be built. This also means that the MOE is the one who is preventing the schools from going ahead with its plans to build the branches.

This shows that Dr. Kow's assertions in his statement that the state government has not approved the land are basically incoherent ramblings of an insignificant MCA lackey.

Therefore, I strongly urge the clueless Dr. Kow, the incompetent Wee and the irrelevant MCA to stop its abusive attacks on Teresa Kok and the Selangor government. They need to focus their attention and energies in lobbying the education ministry to approve the schools' request to build its structure on the land allocated to them by the state.

Stop wasting Teresa's and the state's precious time and stop neglecting the real needs of the rakyat. This is crucial especially as these school students need school buildings to accommodate their academic needs immediately.

* Lau Weng San, DAP Selangor State Organizing Secretary & SA for Kampung Tunku