12 November 2018

Press statement by MCA Youth Deputy Chairman Tan Chee Hiong

Switching stand with a change of position, Teo Kok Seong’s indifferent attitude towards alma mater is heart-wrenching

MCA Youth deputy chairman Tan Chee Hiong lambasted DAP’s Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC) alumni Teo Kok Seong and Chong Eng for switching their stands with a change of position. Instead of seeking funding for their alma mater and juniors, they gave in to the government’s move of suppressing TAR UC, they cannot be more shameless than this!

It is heart-wrenching to see DAP Members of Parliament, Teo Kok Seong and Chong Eng having an indifferent attitude towards their alma mater, after it reportedly obtained a mere RM5.5 million allocation.

As alumni of TAR UC, Teo Kok Seong and Chong Eng should be able to seek more funds for their alma mater after Pakatan formed the federal government. This is to assist in the future development of their alma mater. However, Pakatan Harapan has in the Budget 2019 allocated only RM5.5 million to TAR UC, in comparison to its predecessor’s allocation of between RM30 million and RM60 million. Instead of defending their alma mater, Teo Kok Seong and Chong Eng have made an offer to TAR UC, demanding the school management to apply for government allocation through formal channels, including making its accounts public, so that it can be ‘‘dealt with appropriately’’.

The request of making TAR UC’s accounts public before giving assistance is akin to asking your family member to open up his or her dire condition before considering giving a helping hand or not. Such move is humiliating the alma mater and juniors!

When he was in the Opposition last year, did Teo Kok Seong remember lambasting the former Barisan government of allocating only RM30 million to TAR UC? Why he did not ask TAR UC to apply for allocation via formal channels at that time? But only blaming the former Barisan government and MCA?

Now that Pakatan Harapan slashed the allocation for TAR UC to RM5.5 million, why then Teo Kok Seong remains silent and no longer ‘‘fight’’ for more funding to TAR UC?

Does Teo Kok Seong’s attitude acknowledges the fact that he was manipulating his alma mater TAR UC in the past in exchange for political mileage? Now that Pakatan Harapan has come into power and TAR UC is useless to him, he is leaving it in the lurch?

I would like to reiterate that, although TAR UC was founded by MCA, it remains a non-profit education institution which is not subject to political interference. It offers a wide range of tertiary qualifications to underprivileged students for further studies at affordable prices. Unfortunately, TAR UC may be forced to raise its tuition fees following a massive cut in government allocation. This may add more burden to students from low-income families.

Therefore I hope Teo Kok Seong and Chong Eng will stop politicising government allocation to TAR UC, shifting blames to MCA and the Chinese community. Instead, they should seek more government funding for their underprivileged juniors in good faith and humane considerations.

Tan Chee Hiong

MCA Youth Deputy Chairman

-MCA Online-