KUCHING, July 25 — Stampin MP Chong Chieng Jen today said that he will raise the issue of the alleged slow disbursement of funds by the Ministry of Education (MoE) at the Parliamentary Select Committee’s next meeting on Education.
He said as a member of the committee he will request a detailed update on the federal allocation from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Works and Ministry of Education.
Chong, who is also the Sarawak DAP chairman, said Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg should not have cried foul about the slow disbursement of funds for dilapidated schools in Sarawak when Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) has five ministers, including a deputy prime minister, and six deputy ministers at the federal government.
“The federal Cabinet meets weekly and the GPS ministers could have raised the matter.
“Furthermore, Abang Jo has direct access to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who is also the finance minister,” he said in a statement.
He asked if the premier had raised the matter with Anwar who was in Kuching last month and wanted to know what the response was.
“If no, why not, since the issue about the repair and upgrade of dilapidated schools had existed for many years, such slowness in the disbursement of funds, if true, would have been there for many years already,” Chong said.
He said all repair and upgrading works are implemented by the Public Works Department which is under the Ministry of Works whose minister is from GPS.
He said it is imperative that the Works Ministry inform the Sarawak State Assembly and the public of the detailed updates on repair works on dilapidated schools in the state.
In Gedong on Sunday, Abang Johari called out the Ministry of Education for taking things lightly when it comes to the disbursement of funds to repair dilapidated schools in the state.
He said there were many rural schools that are either in need of immediate repair or needs to be rebuilt but due to lack of funds, teachers and students had to make do with the current school infrastructure.
