KUCHING, Aug 27: Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Kuching Youth strongly condemns the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government’s handling of the dilapidated schools issue in Sarawak.
In a statement today, the youth section said that PH was not taking Sarawakians seriously and was using dilapidated schools as a bargaining chip to gain political mileage.
“Earlier, Finance Minister YB Lim Guan Eng took the Sarawak’s dilapidated school buildings as a bargaining chip, saying that as long as the Sarawak government returns the loan from the federal government of RM350 million, the PH government will be making a one-to-one funding grant of RM350 million to Sarawak for the repair of shabby school buildings.
“Now that the loan has been returned, the promised funds are still not available…. Is this the new government that the people wanted?” it asked.
“The PH government clearly knows that the schools are under the federal government’s jurisdiction, and the Sarawak government has no authorisation to repair the dilapidated school buildings. In addition, the Sarawak government has always been paying off the federal loans on time, but the federal government has delayed the allocation of funds on the grounds that the Sarawak government does not repay the federal loan. It kept us wondering what their intention is.
“The children are the future of the country, and their learning environment is very important. The safety of the school buildings is also related to whether the children can study in a satisfactory environment. We expect the new government to be aware of these factors.”
According to SUPP Kuching Youth, there are 5,257 dormitories for teachers within the country, of which only 33,893 units are being used and the rest are left vacant.
“Why are they wasting the people’s money in building vacant quarters when the shabby schools are not repaired?
“As the ruling party, the PH government should not only be consistent in their words and deeds, but also in treating our children in Sarawak fairly, giving them a safer and more comfortable learning environment.” — DayakDaily
