YONG PENG: Three out of the four Chinese new villages in the Ayer Hitam parliamentary constituency have won awards in past years.

The remaining one – Kampung Baru Lam Lee – is ramping up its efforts in a bid to clinch the Anugerah Desa Sejahtera 1Malaysia (ADS1M) for best Chinese new village.

MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong, who is also Ayer Hitam MP, said it would be historic if Lam Lee were to be recognised as well.

Lam Lee village, with some 80 houses and 200 villagers, has started upgrade and beautification works.

Besides repainting some of the buildings and homes, the villagers have also painted murals and set up a nature park to give the village a green touch, Dr Wee said.

He added that the new village was mostly occupied by senior residents and had a laid-back atmosphere.

Last year, Kampung Baru Kangkar Baru clinched the best Chinese new village title while Kampung Baru Yong won the second place in 2014 and Kampung Baru Ayer Hitam was crowned as the champion in 2006.

Dr Wee, who is Minister in the Prime Ministers Department, said this after handing out ang pow to 26 dialysis patients at the Mawar hemodialysis centre here yesterday.

On a separate matter, Dr Wee said Chinese vernacular schools in Johor could expect to receive some RM9.1mil in financial allocation from the federal and state governments in the coming month.

He said 122 Chinese vernacular schools in the state would be receiving some RM7mil from the Federal Government while another 88 would receive a state allocation of RM2mil.

The funds would take some time to be disbursed either by cheque or bank transfer, but schools could expect to receive it soon, he said.

“It will be a nice ang pow for them for the Chinese New Year,” he said, adding that the funds excluded the allocation for Foon Yew High School’s Bandar Seri Alam branch and Southern University College.

Earlier, Dr Wee had lunch with representatives from five Chinese vernacular and high schools in Yong Peng. He also launched the Yong Peng Chinese New Year Super Night celebration in the evening.

-The STAR-