NO.6, Jalan Abdullah, Off Jalan Bangsar, 59000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Tel: 03-2282 5241 Fax: 03-2282 5245 Website: www.humanrightspartymalaysia.com

YAB Lim Guan Eng                                                         Date : 22/11/2010

Chief Minister

State Government of Penang

Dear YAB,

Sub: SJK(T) Ladang Batu Kawan

A number of events have been set in motion very recently regards the SJK(T) Ladang Batu Kawan – events which are anyway long overdue. We understand that the Federal Government Ministry Of Education is sending in a team from Putrajaya who along with the local Administrators will be expediting the transfer of the land allocated by PDC in 2008 to the trustees of the school, to the appropriate Federal Government Authority on the 23^rd of November 2010.

This is absolutely happening at the behest of the parents of the children of the current school. The request from the parents has acquired a sense of urgency and seriousness and this is directly because politicians and civil servants of the entire spectrum, alike have been dangling this carrot for far too long and the parents have had enough of all that playacting and want to see positive developments. Enough talk is what they are effectively now saying.

In line with this and in representing the parents of the SJK(T) Ladang Batu Kawan, we would like to make a request that the State Government allocate an additional 3 acres of land adjoining the land already provided to make this school sit on land of a total of 5 acres.

We understand from our research that the Batu Kawan Township once fully developed will have a population of at least 150,000. Since Batu Kawan has a strong Indian presence, we expect that at least 20,000 of the population in the new township will be Indians. Given this, it is time to plan for a school large enough to cater for such a population. We believe that the student numbers will range from 800 to 1000 students. It is our belief that if the school is well built and well resourced, the student numbers will far exceed expectations.

We understand about 25% of the 4000 acres of land identified under the Batu Kawan Development Master Plan has been allocated to public facilities of which schools are a major part. The Federal and the State Governments play an important role now in the provision of quality resources and infrastructure for educational purposes. And further, we believe the timing of this request of ours is just right given that the Federal Government is showing some movement on this project and that the Batu Kawan Development Master Plan is itself under review.

We make this request to on the following grounds:

1) As you are probably aware about 100,000 young Indian children attend schools like SJK(T) Ladang Batu Kawan throughout the country. That is 50 % of the future of the Indian children in this age group. That, effectively is 50% of the future of the Indian community. In asking for a quality Primary school, we are not talking here about funds or hardware, we are talking about the entire future of the Indian minority community in Malaysia.

2) We are not just asking to move out of current premises in to new brick and mortar premises of the same capacity. Developmental needs have to be taken into account.. If you see what has happened at the SJK(T) Azad in Penang, the school which is barely built, has already run out of space for any further development. This must be considered in every new school that is planned – this planning basics, otherwise we are just postponing the same problem we now face.

3) 5 acres of land is a minimum necessity for a fully functional and quality primary School. 2 acres is nowhere near sufficient for this purpose.

4) A quality and functional Primary school must in our opinion have:

a) Adequate classrooms for current and projected growth needs – 30 classrooms at least.

b) Playing fields for a variety of sporting activities like football, athletics, netball, futsal and such. This is not a luxury request, this is a basic necessity. If you ask why so many Indian youth are involved in spurious antisocial activities – one of the reasons is that the culture of sportsmanship has not been developed from a young age.

c) A good size canteen for 800 students

d) A school hall to have school assemblies and functions

e) Adequate staff rooms, teacher meeting and counseling room.

f) A Library to promote and develop a culture of reading

g) A computer lab to teach use of the Internet and other computer applications

h) A computer access centre for the students to use the computers and to access Internet

j) Kehidupan resource rooms

k) Science labs

l) Sick Bay

m) Resource centres

n) Adequate Toilet and changing room facilities

p) Student and Teachers Group discussion rooms

q) Stores- for Koperasi, for Office and for janitorial services.

The school needs land for all of this. 5 acres is an absolute minimum.

6) Your government has often said that it it takes care of the needs of all the people regardless of ethnicity. Here is a concrete situation – now please show in action what you say in words. Quality primary education is a critical need of the Indian community. To us, who represent the marginalized Indians, this is very critical. We now ask you, – are you willing to put your money where your mouth is?

Land is entirely under the jurisdiction of the State Government. You provide the land and we will in turn request the Federal Government to do what they must, next.

We hope you will take this request seriously and do what is right for the people of Batu Kawan and for the SJK(T) Ladang Batu Kawan and subsequently also for all the Tamil Schools in Penang which are in similar predicament. There are altogether 28 Tamil Primary Schools in Penang and we know most of them are in no better shape than this school. But , first let us see it here.

Thank You.

Yours Sincerely

Kalaiselvam

Pro-Tem State Chairman

Human Rights Party Malaysia

Cc: Tn. Hj. Ibrahim B. Mohamad

Pengarah Jabatan Pelajaran,

Pulau Pinang

Cc: Dr. Haji Zahri bin Aziz

Pengarah

Bahagian Perancangan dan Penyelidikan Dasar Pendidikan

Kemeneterian Pelajaran

Block E8, Complex E,

Federal Government Administrative Centre,

62604, PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA

cc: Hon’ble Minister of Education

Y.A.B. Tan Sri Dato’ Haji Muhyiddin Bin Haji Mohd. Yassin

Block E8, Complex E,

Federal Government Administrative Centre,

62604, PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA