Nazri: I don't care about protest over school land

Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz has stressed that he did not care about the protest by the United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) on the land aquisition at Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) Chin Woo.

"I don't care what they (Dong Zong) think... I only take into account what is decided by the Chin Woo school board members. If the members of the board agree, I agree. If Dong Zong, I don't care about them," he told reporters after launching a 1Malaysia Reading Carnival in Kuala Kangsar today.

In July, the ministry intended to acquire land in the school in Pudu to build a culture village through the RM32.5 million Kuala Lumpur Heritage City project.

However, the decision was opposed by numerous parties, especially parents, as the land was being used as a basketball court since 1938.

On the encouragement to read books in conjunction with the two-day carnival, beginning today, Mohamed Nazri targeted that every Malaysian read 20 books this year.

He said a study in 2005 indicated that Malaysians read two books while a study by Prof Atan Long in 1996, revealed that Malaysians read two pages a year.

- Bernama