MIRI, Feb 18 – When Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak opens the RM6 million Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) Tudan, Miri this Wednesday, it not only signifies the foundation laid by the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) to establish the school, but also its unique feature in terms of the 1Malaysia concept. The school opened its doors on Jan 3, 2007 after the ground-breaking performed by the then deput education minister Datuk Hon Choon Kim on Aug 30, 2001 and although a Chinese school, more than half of its students were Bumiputeras.
SJKC Tudan principal Chong Yuen Kheng said the school currently had 1,267 students with 52 per cent of them Bumiputeras and the rest, Chinese.
“The majority of the Bumiputera students are Iban with their families living in Permyjaya,” he told Bernama, here, today. Chong who has been SJKC Tudan principal since Jan 7, 2009, said the present ratio of its students was unique and the trend would likely to continue due to the booming population in Permyjaya, prompting the school to expand.
“We hope that when the prime minister comes here, he will announce a big gift for us,” he said, adding that their wish list included a financial allocation to build a new building.
“We have submitted the proposal to the Education Department to build a three-storey building with 12 classrooms for approval,” he said.
In addition, he said, the school had also proposed a financial allocation for maintenance and construction of students’ toilets that would altogether cost about RM1.6 million. He said the establishment of SJKC Tudan was largely due to the hard work of SUPP’s senior leaders, with many of them becoming the school board of directors. The board comprises former deputy chief minister and ex-SUPP president Tan Sri Dr George Chan, Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister and SUPP president Datuk Seri Peter Chin, party publicity and information secretary Datuk Sebastian Ting, state Assistant Minister for Communication Datuk Lee Kim Shin and corporate figures here.
Meanwhile, Ting who is also the board secretary, said SJKC Tudan was proof that SUPP had never failed the Chinese community when it came to education. He said SUPP had successfully obtained two licences to open SJKC Chung Hua No.6 in Kuching and SJKC Tudan, Miri out of nine new licences that were issued.
“This proves that SUPP is serious about Chinese education and together with the help of the Chinese community, our dream of establishing a Chinese primary school has materialised when it started operating in 2007,” he said.
Ting, who is also the political secretary to the Energy, Green Technology and Water minister, said it also showed that the goverment was very supportive of the development of vernacular schools in Sarawak. Najib is scheduled to officially open the school at 5pm on Wednesday and he will then attend a Chinese New Year dinner at Eastwood Valley Golf and Country Club.
BERNAMA
