St Thomas schools in Kuantan moved out rather than pay RM1 rent, says priest

Tired of being taken for granted for 60 years, the Catholic church earlier this year suggested that the Education Ministry pay a token rental for the use of its land in Jalan Gambut, Kuantan, on which the St Thomas schools stand.

The response they received was that the school would move out by next month and that the ministry would hand over the keys to the church by June next year.

The parish priest of St Thomas Church, Father Mitchel Anthony Joseph, felt that the ministry’s reaction was rather mean-spirited.

"What can we do if they want to move out instead of paying us minimal rent, and it can be even just RM1? We just did not want to be taken for granted," Mitchell said, stressing that the church was not responsible for the ministry's decision to vacate the St Thomas schools.

He said that for 60 years, the schools had been operating on the land without paying a single sen.

He told The Malaysian Insider that in 2008, the church under the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur and Montfort Brothers, had informed the ministry that they needed the land back.

However, two years ago, the Kuantan Municipal Council tried to acquire the land on which the secondary school sits, in the church taking the matter to court through a judicial review application.

The Government agreed to withdraw its planned acquisition of the church land and it was recorded in court as “consent of all parties involved” in January this year.

"The Education Ministry then wrote to us, seeking an extension of time to use the land, and we responded that we could allow an extension until 2015, and asked for a minimal rental," Mitchel said.

However, in May this year, the ministry replied to say the schools were moving out by December and that they would hand over the keys to the church by June next year.

Mitchel said they feared that the council might make another attempt to acquire the land, which is considered prime land because of its location in Jalan Gambut, in the heart of Kuantan.

He said the church had no immediate plans for any development on the land.

Yesterday, Parliament rejected an emergency motion by Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh (pic) to discuss the Education Ministry's plan to move more than 1,000 students from St. Thomas schools to two other schools after the ministry decided to vacate the land.

The primary school sits on 1.6ha belonging to Montfort while the church owns 0.8ha occupied by the secondary school.

Fuziah told reporters at the Parliament lobby later that while the ministry’s argument was that the church was now seeking rent, she was informed by the church that even a token sum would suffice as the school had been there for more than 60 years.

"I don’t understand why the government is going through with it,” she said. She described the ministry’s attitude as a show of arrogance towards the land owners.

According to Fuziah, instead of looking for a place to relocate the schools or negotiate with the church over the past five years, the ministry had gazetted the land for acquisition on May 24, 2012.

She also lashed out at Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob, whom she accused of creating "ill-feelings" between the church and St Thomas pupils and administration.