(The Star) - AN increasing number of the board of directors of Chinese schools have come forward to urge the United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) chairman Yap Sin Tian and his deputy Chow Siew Hon to call off the 926 rally demanding the resignation of Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong.
They said the rally would harm the development of Chinese education, Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press reported.
Nanyang reported that on Saturday, representatives of the board members from 40 Chinese primary schools in Malacca urged the two to set aside their personal grievances and not to politicise the Chinese education problems.
On Sept 8, over 110 representatives from Pahang Chinese primary schools' board of directors as well as their parent-teacher associations slammed Yap and Chow for misusing the organisation's resources to call for a rally for their personal agenda.
A day later, a group of parents from SJK Jinjang Utara wanted the school's former board chairman Yap Sin Tian to “leave the school alone” for the sake of its students.
Yap and Chow, who was SJK Jinjang Utara's deputy chairman, had also submitted a list of nine names for the school board to the Education Department last year instead of the required 15.
Earlier this year, another group submitted a complete list which was accepted by the state Education Department.
Yap had accused the Education Ministry of trying to grab power from the school board by not accepting his list of names and has initiated a rally on Sept 26 calling for Dr Wee's resignation.
Datuk Chin Kon Tow, the board chairman of SRJK (C) Masjid Tanah in Malacca, said the school would not attend the 926 rally, and urged other primary schools in the state not to attend as well.
He said Dr Wee had worked hard to solve the Chinese education problems, so there was no reason to call for his resignation.
“Will it solve the problems (in Chinese schools) once and for all just by asking the Deputy Education Minister to resign?” Chin asked.
Chin said Yap and Chow should return to talks with the relevant authorities to find solutions for the development of Chinese education.