Guan Eng used school functions to criticise Govt, claims Chong

KUALA LUMPUR: Lim Guan Eng should know why he has faced problems entering schools, said Deputy Education Minister Datuk Chong Sin Woon (pic).

Chong claimed the Penang Chief Minister had used school functions to speak about politics and to criticise the Federal Government.

Lim, who wanted to visit SJKC Kampung Sungai Lembu on Sept 8 to hand over a cheque to the school's board of governors, questioned why a chief minister was not allowed to enter the school and the need for him to obtain permission from the Education Minister to do so.

"He has hurled baseless allegations, especially against the Education Ministry, and the state education department merely wanted to prevent the school from being used as a platform for a political attack.

"Lim has also politicised allocations, whenever the Penang state government handed allocations to schools, turning it into a platform to bluntly attack us.

"He should know why he was not allowed to enter a school while other chief ministers, MPs and assemblymen have no problems," Chong told reporters at Wisma MCA here on Monday.

Chong said that while the Education Ministry welcomed allocations to schools from state governments, it was not a licence for them to attack the ministry.

Earlier on Monday, Penang Education director Shaari Osman said prior permission had to be obtained by mentri besar or chief ministers to visit schools under the Education Ministry.

He said it had been the norm for state government leaders to obtain permission from the Education Minister to visit the schools.