Education Minister Musa Mohamad today said that those students who refused to be relocated from the controversial Damansara Chinese school will no longer be recognised by his ministry.

He added that his ministry is currently preparing letters of expulsion to be sent to these defiant primary students.

According to sinchew-i.com, Musa told journalists at the Parliament lobby that the students can still apply to the Selangor Education Department to return to school, but they will have to undergo a more laborious procedure.

In an immediate response, secretary of the Action Committee to Save the Damansara School Tommy Chin told malaysiakini that the expulsion showed that the ministry was not sincere in solving the problem.

"We are not worried over the expulsion of the students, we are more concerned about losing the school," said Chin.

Students of the SRJK (C) Damansara school were supposed to have moved to Puay Chai II in January while awaiting the completion of the new school building in Tropicana.

However, an initial 67 students, later joined by seven others, and their parents, rebelled against the decision as they were dissatisfied with the authorities' rationale for the relocation as well as the lack of information on the future of the 70-year-old school once it is abandoned.

Power to act

On a related matter, Musa said that the Universiti of Malaya (UM) administration has the power to terminate associate professor Dr Chia Oai Peng without consulting the Education Ministry.

Chia of the Literature and Social Science Faculty has received a show-cause letter from the university's vice-chancellor Prof Dr Anuar Zaini Md Zain, asking her to explain her e-mail postings on the Damansara school issue in a discussion group last month.

In the letter dated Feb 6, Anuar said that he was informed by the education minister's special officer that Chia had sent a number of Internet postings in support of retaining the 70-year-old Chinese school, and thus violated the university's rules.

But according to Chia, Dr Anuar has accepted her explanation during a meeting last week. However, the vice-chancellor has informed her that he has to report to the Education Ministry first before making his decision.

Musa denied that his ministry had issued any directive to UM. However, he conceded that an official in his ministry has sent a report on Chia to the university administration.

He explained that it was normal procedure for the ministry to issue reports on lecturers deemed to have broken university rules.

Musa added that UM has its own disciplinary committee and it could act without referring to outside bodies.