The presence of heavily armed police personnel at the ground-breaking ceremony for a new USJ Chinese primary school last Sunday surprised many residents who turned up to witness the event.

The chairperson of the Working Committee for the Development of Chinese schools in Subang Jaya/USJ, Gan Wah Lien told malaysiakini today that the ceremony to mark the construction of a school building for SKJC Chee Wen proceeded smoothly despite the presence of about 20 heavily armed police and light strike force (LSF) personnel.

"Many of us are caught by surprise. We do not know why the LSF personnel have to be there. Some of them were armed with M-16s," he said.

According to Gan, the ground-breaking ceremony was attended by several MCA leaders led by Housing and Local Government Minister Ong Ka Ting. Deputy Education Minister Hon Choon Kim was also present.

Also present were other MCA members including several from its Wanita section. So too were about 60 parents of Chee Wen's students.

The ground-breaking ceremony came as a relief to parents of Chee Wen's students and USJ residents as the construction of the school had been delayed for over a year due to controversies over its funding and completion date.

Five borrowed classrooms

Chee Wen was relocated from Batang Berjuntai in 1999 to serve the USJ Chinese population. However, three years after its relocation, the school is still operating from five borrowed classrooms at another Subang Jaya school - SK SS17 - although Chee Wen was initially promised a new school building by 2001.

According to Gan, Ong Ka Ting has promised to raise RM100,000 for the construction of the new school but he was in the dark about the fund-raising activities planned.

There is also still no clear indication from the chairperson of the school's board of governors, Lee Hwa Beng, over the construction schedule, Gan said.

"We want the first block to be ready so that the students can start schooling at the new building by next year. Construction of the other blocks can continue later.

"But Lee wants to have the whole building constructed in one go and this will take at least another 18 months," he added.

Lee, who is also the Subang Jaya state assemblyperson, had said the plans are not finalised but the suggestion to have the construction of the whole school in one go instead of in stages was made at the request of parents to minimise disruption to classes and to reduce costs.

USJ has a 100,000-strong Chinese Malaysian community but only one school, Chee Wen, to serve its vernacular education needs. At present, Chee Wen operates only three standard one and standard two classes due to the lack of proper facilities.