KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 — DAP’s Teo Nie Ching accused today the Education Ministry of political bias, after it issued a warning letter to a Chinese school for renting out its hall to her party.
Teo, who is DAP international secretary, demanded the Johor Education Department and the ministry explain why it warned Pei Chun Chinese Independent School for renting out its hall to Pekan Nanas DAP for a fundraising dinner on Saturday, whereas no action was taken when the same school rented out its premises to Gerakan and MCA last month.
“Pei Chun is a private school with no government funding, and the hall was built by its board of directors using donations from the general public. The department had no right to interfere with its rental matter,” she said in a statement.
Teo pointed out that an event held last October at a national school in Putrajaya, attended by Umno and BN secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor where students sang the Umno party song and waved its flags, faced no such action from the ministry.
“Why did they not serve any warning letters to the (Pei Chun) school when it rented out the same hall to Gerakan and MCA just last month?
“If last October’s event in Putrajaya faced no action, then why is it wrong for Pei Chun to rent its hall to DAP? Is this selective and malicious prosecution?” she questioned.
This was not the first time the department has acted unreasonably, Teo said, noting that the head teacher of a Chinese school in Pekan Nanas was transferred after the school rented out its hall to its state assemblyman, Yeo Tung Siong, in 2014.
“The ministry should stop their double standards, as it is a government institution for the people and not BN or its component parties,” she said.
