PETALING JAYA: DAP’s Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh today hit out at a deputy minister’s explanation for the change in name for the St Thomas secondary and primary schools in Kuantan, saying it “simply does not make sense”.
He was responding to Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan, who said yesterday that the name ceased to exist after the church took back its land.
“The land doesn’t belong to the ministry. The church owns the land. The day the land where the St Thomas school stood was given back to the church, it put an end to the school,” he said in a report by The Star.
Kamalanathan added that the pupils had been housed in two other schools as a temporary measure until new primary and secondary schools are built to accommodate them.
However, Ramkarpal asked how a school was “put to an end” when it was relocated.
“I am unaware of any legislation which ‘puts a school to an end’ upon relocation,” he said in a statement.
He gave the example of the Penang Free School, which was relocated from its original site on Farquhar Street due to overcrowding.
“Such relocation did not result in a change of its name,” he added.
“Similarly, there can be no justification for the change of the name St Thomas merely on account of its relocation. At the end of the day, the government must surely have the discretion of maintaining their names as the schools are government-owned.”
Ramkarpal said Kamalanathan’s explanation also contradicted previous reports on the matter, in which state Health, Human Resources and Special Functions Committee chairman Norol Azali Sulaiman said the name was “no longer suitable”.
Norol also said the name would be changed once the schools are relocated to a new building, Ramkarpal said.
“Kamalanathan’s explanation seems to suggest that the St Thomas schools have ceased to exist, whereas Norol’s explanation seems to suggest that the said schools are merely being relocated.”
Ramkarpal added that there was no indication that the church had any objection to the continued use of the name St Thomas.
On Nov 25, The Star reported that the schools’ name would be changed to Sekolah Mahkota Abdullah once they are relocated to a new building.
This triggered an outcry from internet users, who started an online petition asking the government to keep the name. -FMT
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