Group unhappy over lease terms for school

Filename : mawbima_mosquit.50adc151604.original.jpg - To go with "The newspaper that repels mosquitoes" (published on 2014-06-17 05:11:12)

THE Indian community in Kulim, Kedah, slammed Mentri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor after SJK(T) Ladang Sungai Ular was forced to accept a three-year land lease instead of a permanent title, reported Makkal Osai.

The school founded in 1936 on the plantation changed hands several times and was eventually bought by the Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Kedah (PKNK) in 1998.

Following several discussions highlighting the difficulty faced by the school to raise the funds, Sanusi who is also PKNK chairman agreed to allocate the land to the school for three years for free.

The school recently received a renewal letter for the three-year temporary lease from Feb 1 to Jan 1,2023, and that the school would have to apply for an extension six months before the expiry date.

Kulim-Bandar Baharu Tamil schools council chairman M. Mahendran said such terms have never been imposed on any government-funded school and described it as outrageous.

He said the school which serves mainly B40 families working in the plantations had no way to raise such amounts.

As mentri besar and PKNK head, Muhammad Sanusi has the authority to permanently gazette the land for the school, said Mahendran.

The council called on the Education Ministry to intervene.

> A mother and her son in Puchong, Selangor, have been living in a six-feet by eight-feet hut in a jungle clearing, reported Makkal Osai.

The mother, identified as only Valarmathi, 49, said she and her 23-yer-old son Thithikumar used to stay in an abandoned house in a nearby residential area for 24 years.

But they were forced out by neighbours three years ago.

Valarmathi said she gathers recycling materials to be sold while her son took odd jobs as a painter and cleaner.

She said they survived with the meagre income in the five-foot-tall hut without any running water or electricity and hoped they would receive some help to improve their lives.

The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ' >'sign, it denotes a separate news item.