KUCHING, Nov 6: The number and the terrible state of dilapidated schools in Sarawak show that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government has neglected Sarawak, says Dr Kelvin Yii, special assistant to Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen.
Yii was responding to the recent statement by Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi claiming that the federal government showed how much it cares about Sarawak through its RM 1 billion allocation to repair and refurbish dilapidated schools in the state.
“If the Barisan Nasional government truly cares for the interest of the state and also its people, they wouldn’t have allowed the conditions of those schools to deteriorate to such a state in the first place,” he said in a press statement today.
Despite Sarawak being a strong supporter of the current government, Hii said that the rights and interest to education for Sarawakians in rural areas had been neglected for many years.
He said the BN government only tried to show they “care” now due to the impending election.
If BN government really cares, he said, many things could have been done, such as adequate funding to maintain schools in the state, development on par with west Malaysia, basic infrastructure like clean water supply and electricity, construction of much needed hospitals, 20 per cent oil royalty that was demanded since 2014 and restoration of the state’s rights as an equal partner.
However, he said the reality is that the condition of schools in Sarawak are so dire that even the State Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Dato Sri Michael Manyin was not happy about the allocation.
Manyin had said that RM 1 billion was not enough as that they had initially asked for up to RM 4 billion to repair the 1,020 dilapidated schools in Sarawak, including 415 critically dilapidated schools . — Dayak Daily
