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School computer lab fiasco:  Education Minister Tan Sri Musa Mohamad should explain the Melaka scandal

 


Media Statement
by Kerk Kim Hock

(Melaka, Friday): The New Straits Times reported today that Malacca State Education Committee Chairman Datuk Long Said said yesterday that only one out of the 62 school computer laboratories which were supposed to be completed in 2001, under phase one of the project, had been completed. 

He said that the only computer lab that was ready was at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Naning.

 

Nanyang Siang Pau quoted him as saying that only one computer lab had been built and the contractor/s had disappeared.

 

I call on the Education Minister Tan Sri Musa Mohamad to explain the scandalous situation and take the necessary steps to resolve the problem.

 

What Datuk Long Said revealed begs serious answers and explanation from Tan Sri Musa Mohamad.

 

It was not long ago that the deputy Education Minister Dato Aziz Samsuddin had revealed that the original contractor appointed for south zone of the phase one project, C S Technology, was terminated on 28.6.2002 and the project for this zone was awarded to 38 new contractors.

 

Was Datuk Long Said saying that even the new contractors appointed had not started the remaining works and that they had also abandoned the project half way?

 

The project was supposed to be completed on 14 May 2001 and the 26-month delay has disrupted the nation’s education programme, the Education Minister must therefore take urgent steps to resolve the problem.

 

A contractor Fazdul Mohamad, who had built the computer lab in Sekolah Kebangsaan Pegoh under phase three of the project, said that it only took him three months to complete the project.

 

This raises the question as to why the government had decided to award the phase one project according to zoning system and to one contractor for each zone, resulting in contractors with limited revolving capital running into problem in carrying the project. .

 

(1/8/2003)


* Kerk Kim Hock, DAP Secretary General & MP for Kota Melaka