Don't politice land issue - Nizar

Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin is disappointed with several parties who politicised the awarding of 400 hectares of land to nine non-government-aided Chinese schools in the state.

He said these irresponsible parties harped on the issue to negatively portray the state government as not taking into account the interest of the Malays and Islam.

Mohammad Nizar clarified that the land was not given away permanently but rather, on a 30-year lease to enable the schools to develop the land and use the revenue to finance their administration costs.

"There are 654 religious schools in Perak and most of them are built on land reserved for public use under the country's Land Code, which can be considered for a permanent period," he said.

The menteri besar said that questions raised by Perak UMNO Youth chief Zainol Fadzi Paharuddin were not relevant as any religious or Tamil school needing assistance could apply for consideration.

Mohammad Nizar also gave an assurance that although the state was governed by the Opposition, the interest and welfare of all races would be given utmost priority.

Today, the Perak Religious Schools Support Organisation (PPSR) urged the state government to also give land to ailing Secondary Religious Schools (SRS) and Tamil schools, just like what was given to nine non-government-aided Chinese schools.

PPSR secretary Khairul Anwar El-Syazalli Musa said nine SRS were in dire need of financial assistance and might not continue to function without help from the state.

"Out of 38 SRS in Perak, six have been closed while another 23 were taken over by the Federal Government.

"This leaves nine schools which are in deplorable condition and need financial assistance, failing which they might suffer a similar fate like the six schools," he told Bernama here Tuesday.

He said the move to approve 400 hectares of land for nine non-government-aided Chinese schools was an extraordinary decision and that SRS and Tamil schools should also be given a similar allocation.

Khairul added that there were 5,000 students in the nine schools and that it did not include about 100,000 students in 650 lower religious schools.

-- BERNAMA