Yong Peng High School’s board of directors’ chairman Yu Ching Nee said the school welcomed donations from everyone, regardless of their background.
Donors should not use this as a reason to attack others for contributing “less” money.
“It does not matter how much a person contributes to us because we see all donations as a sincere contribution to Chinese schools.”
Yu said the school was taken aback when Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng issued his statement that he was surprised to get a request for help from a senior staff member of a Yong Peng independent Chinese school during a visit to Johor on Friday.
Lim said yesterday that he was approached after the staff member heard that Penang had been handing out generous donations for Chinese schools.
“They asked me if they, too, could get an allocation from us,” Lim said.
He lamented that Chinese schools in Yong Peng had only received “tens of thousands of ringgit” in allocations, when the Penang government had allocated RM400,000 to RM500,000 each to independent Chinese schools in the state.
Lim said the school should have received more as it was in a place where MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong is MP. Wee is also a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.
“A minister gets RM5 million in allocations a year. Opposition MPs do not get this. Now, if an MP is a minister, he should be getting at least RM10 million.
“So why can’t the MP give RM1 million to Chinese schools? Especially when it is in his constituency? Sadly, these schools only get several tens of thousands.”
In a statement today, Yu said it was normal for a school to seek a donation from a “national leader” like Lim.
Yu said the Chinese school was planning to build a learning centre in conjunction with its 60th anniversary and was still lacking in funds for the new building.
“We now have about RM4 million and still lack another RM4 million to reach our target.
“We have sent out an official letter to the chief minister and hope he can support us and help the hardworking students.”
Earlier today, Ayer Hitam MCA division chairman Ling Tian Soon, who is MCA’s candidate for the Yong Peng state seat in the next polls, said if Lim chose to donate to the school, MCA would be happy about it.
“However, why was it necessary to push down others in order to lift his (Lim’s) own image up?”
He said the Yong Peng High School had received RM75,000 from Wee last year, not including subsidies and contributions to the school’s alumni association.
Ling said Wee actively contributed to the Yong Peng Taiwanese Students Association, which helps the Yong Peng High School to organise fund-raising events.
He said the school had been chosen as part of the Malaysian Chinese Educational Information Project 2017.
“This educational programme is estimated to cost over RM200,000 and has been fully funded by MCA, with the school not requiring to pay for any of the programmes or equipment.”
Guan Eng surprised Johor Chinese school asking him for donation