SIBU: Second Finance Minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh sees a bright future in the development of Chinese education in the country.
He said both the federal and the state governments had made serious efforts in coming out with policies to ensure that Chinese education would continue to enjoy progress.
“As such, the onus is on the people to support the initiatives and policies implemented by both the federal and state governments to ensure the development of Chinese education,” he said.
Wong was speaking at the opening of a concert at the Civic Centre here on Wednesday night.
The concert, performed by a Taiwanese dancing and singing troupe, was aimed at raising RM500,000 for SM Wong Nai Siong.
Among those present were SM Wong Nai Siong board of directors chairman Temengoong Vincent Lau Lee Ming, event organising chairman Chieng Buong Toon and Deputy Minister of the Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission of the Republic of China (Taiwan), Jen Hong.
To prove its sincerity, Wong said the state government had already promised to give 2,000 hectares of land to Chinese schools for the United Board of Management of Chinese Independent Schools to develop and generate income for Chinese schools.
He said a special committee headed by Lau, who is also the chairman of United Board of Management of Chinese Independent Schools, had been working hard to look into the usage of the land and ways to generate income for the Chinese schools.
Wong said he had been assigned by the State Cabinet to handle affairs pertaining to the development and welfare of Chinese education in the state.
Besides that, Wong said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had also pledged RM5 million for the development of private Chinese secondary schools and another RM10 million for private Chinese primary schools during the Sibu parliamentary by-election.
Education Minister Tan Sri Muyhiddin Yassim had also made concerted efforts to carry out further studies on the recognition of Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) issued by private Chinese secondary schools, Wong said.
On top of that, Wong said Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong would visit the state from Feb 20 to 23 to further study the needs of Chinese schools.
Wong said all these were concerted steps taken by both the federal and state governments to ensure that Chinese education would continue to receive attention.
He said the government would never sway from its responsibilities to ensure that the development of Chinese education was properly handled. Furthermore, as China continues to expand, it would bring about a greater influence on both the economic and political development in the world, he said.
He said Chinese culture was also getting increasingly popular and was widely accepted by all countries throughout the world.
“Chinese people should treasure this inheritance and continue to learn and expand their cultural development.”
Wong was also grateful to Lau for his immense effort to help ensure the development of Chinese education.
“The ability of SM Wong Nai Siong to achieve its current status is all because of the efforts put in by Lau.”
Wong later contributed RM10,000 to the school.