A DAP political aide has filed a police report on the contradictory statements on the allocation for Chinese primary schools under the 2016 national budget.
Chong Zhemin urged the police to investigate if there was any misappropriation or abuse of power related to the RM50 million, which he claimed had gone "missing".
In a media statement, Chong, the aide to Perak DAP chairperson Nga Kor Ming, quoted a China Press report in which the Finance Ministry confirmed the full allocation had been disbursed to the Education Ministry.
"However, the Education Ministry denied receiving the full RM50 million allocation," he said.
Chong, who lodged the report with the Ipoh district police headquarters this morning, said it is unacceptable that with just eight days remaining in 2016, Chinese primary schools nationwide had yet to receive a single cent of allocation.
"The same happened last year, when RM30 million of the allocation to Chinese primary schools was used for flood relief purposes.
"In 2013 and 2014, no such cases were reported. All of the RM50 million allocation promised to Chinese primary schools was disbursed in full," he added.
However, Chong said, after MCA rejoined the cabinet, problems started arising.
"In two consecutive years, during 2014 and 2015, allocations to the Chinese primary schools have been reportedly missing.
"MCA's saying that 'when you have someone in the government, things get done' is nothing more than an empty slogan.
"I urge MCA to stop using such tactics to deceive the people. It has been proven over time, with MCA in the cabinet, more problems arise," he added.
On the same note, Chong urged the police to investigate the "missing allocation" of RM25 million to SMJK schools and RM50 million to Catholic schools.
On Tuesday, Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid was quoted by China Press as saying budget cuts for the Education Ministry had imposed limitations with regard to the RM50 million maintenance and development allocation for Chinese primary schools for this year.
"If it is not resolved, ambil dulu mana yang ada (take what is available for now)," Mahdzir was quoted as saying.
However, Finance Minister II Johari Abdul Ghani told Sin Chew Daily yesterday that the ministry had released the full allocation to the Education Ministry.
"Ministries must follow announcements made by the prime minister when tabling the budget. The government promised to allocate RM50 million to Chinese schools, so the Education Ministry must allocate the sum. That's all," he added.
In another news report, Johari passed the buck to Mahdzir, telling reporters to check with the education minister on the allocation issue.
However, in a Facebook posting, Deputy Education Minister Chong Sin Woon, who is also MCA Youth chief, said the prime minister did not specifically state that Chinese schools would be allocated RM50 million.
Sin Woon also posted an image of the prime minister's budget speech which stated that a total of RM500 million would be allocated to all schools.-Mkini
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