Dr Yii showing correspondence between Sarawak government and the MOE.
KUCHING: Bandar Kuching member of parliament Dr Kelvin Yii has urged the Sarawak government, the Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research in particular, not to be dishonest with the people of Sarawak.
Dr Yii said the minister had been politicising the issue of education in order to paint a negative picture and build a false perception that the federal government does not prioritise education in Sarawak.
He was responding to the recent statement made by Dato Sri Michael Manyin that Sarawak was unable to connect 113 primary schools in the state to the main electricity grid because the federal government was yet to give consent.
Manyin had also said he had written to the Education Ministry in June on the matter and claimed that the ministry had not responded to him.
Dr Yii said: “Since education is something that is important and I believe that such issues especially education, go beyond partisan politics, I followed up with the education ministry on the matter to make sure that the schools get the required infrastructure and amenities for the benefit of students and teachers in all those schools.
“However, I was made to understand that there was correspondence between the federal Ministry of Education (MOE) and the state’s ministry of education on the subject matter in October.”
According to him, MOE responded on Oct 24 to request for details of the proposal by the state government which Manyin replied on Oct 31.
“I was informed that the Ministry of Education is reviewing the matter holistically including doing the necessary ground studies including the proposal by the state government and is responding on the matter soon.
“While I believe such matter should be expedited due to the urgency of the matter, however the evidence of such letters and correspondence proves that Manyin is outrightly lying by saying that MOE has not replied to him since June,” Dr Yii said, adding such action is irresponsible and amounts to trying to paint a negative picture of the federal government.
He added: “This clearly shows how the state government is willing to resort to lies and dishonesty in order to push the blame away from their own shortcomings at the expense of the interest of the people.
“This has been a common trend by the state GPS government to blame the federal government but not own up and take responsibility of their own role in the problems that we are facing.”
He pointed out that the lack of basic amenities and dilapidated state of Sarawak’s schools did not appear in the last six months when the Pakatan Harapan government took over.
“Maybe the question has to be directed back at the state government on how they allowed the conditions of our schools to get so deteriorated as such and not have the required basic amenities to provide a conducive learning environment for our children,” Dr Yii said.