Barisan Nasional state assembly representatives who voted against an opposition motion to increase the number of Chinese secondary schools in Penang have been accused of "violating" elections promises made in the last general election.

Keadilan state deputy chief Cheah Kah Peng said that the 28 reps who opposed the motion in the Penang state assembly on Wednesday should "apologise and resign" for going back on their promises made in 1999.

Cheah, who is also a supreme council member of Keadilan, said the reps, especially those from Gerakan and MCA should be "ashamed" of themselves as they had sold out their Chinese constituents, who had been denied a choice to educate their children in their mother tongue.

Total embarrassment

"For Umno not to understand Chinese culture is one thing, but for Chinese-based parties like Gerakan and MCA to collectively vote against this issue is a total embarrassment," he told a press conference in Penang yesterday.

"This goes to show that the two parties are merely bowing to Umno's education policy of one language, one culture," he added.

Raised by DAP Batu Lanchang state assemblyperson Law Heng Kiang, the motion was supported by Abdul Rahman Kader (Keadilan-Penanti) and Mohd Hamdan Abdul Rahman (PAS- Permatang Pasir).

Despite 60 percent of the state's population of 1.5 million being Chinese, Penang has not seen an increase in Chinese secondary schools since Independence in the south-west area, which included densely populated constituencies like Bayan Baru, Bukit Gelugor and Bayan Lepas.

The issue of mother tongue and multi-culturalism has been an on-going debate in the country as ethnic Chinese fear that their culture and mother tongue would be eroded by the government's plan to assimilate all races.

There are only seven Chinese secondary schools in Penang at present and some parents are complaining that they have to send their children to schools located in the mainland like in Butterworth and Bukit Mertajam.

Procedure not followed

However, at the state assembly, Penang State Executive Councillor for Economic Planning, Education and Human Resources Development Committee (including science and technology) Dr Toh Kin Woon was reported to have said that the motion raised by the opposition did not follow proper procedure.

He was quoted widely in the Chinese press as saying that the issue was within the purview of the Ministry of Education which is under the Federal Government, and that the state has no power to decide on such matters.

Meanwhile, Cheah, a lawyer, urged the Chinese community, associations and non-governmental organisations to make a stand on this issue.

He said the people should take note that while Gerakan and MCA did not support the call to build more Chinese secondary schools in Penang, two Malay reps from Keadilan and PAS did.

He added that Penangites ought to be reminded that this was the second time that the BN reps 'toed the line' and voted against an issue affecting the future of many people.

The first, he recalled, was the Penang Outer Ring Road issue, which eventually saw two MCA reps being reprimanded for withholding their votes against an opposition motion to defer building the costly highway.