The SRJK (C) Damansara was known to have excellent teachers and strived to produce students of high quality and that was the reason why I sent my two children there.

The school also built new facilities like the new school hall for the benefit of the students and I as a parent have through the years contributed financially to the school's efforts to provide better facilities for the students.

The traffic situation then is no different from now, despite the "new" highway next to it. In fact, the school built a bridge over the road to ensure that students can cross over to a parking spot where they can be picked up safely.

I therefore read with interest a recent advertisement in our national daily, the Star , by parents in the majority who want to move to the new premises. From the beginning when they enrolled their children, the traffic situation was already bad, so why the fuss now, and why is there such an urgent need to advertise on a full page to highlight their frustration? I would like to see the other side advertise their rationale of staying put as well.

The Education Ministry is also to be blamed for this episode. Why transfer students when the new school is not ready? Certain politicians have already hinted that there is a sinister reason for this given the locality of the school and its promising commercial value. Others have pointed to an attack on Chinese education.

Given the perceived lack of transparency as to what will become of the school premises once the students have moved on, this only adds fuel to the opposition camps. This could have very well been avoided from the very beginning if there were more consultation and discussion. I hope that a lesson will be learnt here by all concerned that our society is becoming more and more critical in its analyses.

Here are my suggestions to solve the current impasse:

1) Let those who want to remain do so and do not force the others to come back. At the same time, the teaching staff problem must be solved.

2) Those who have moved to the "temporary" premises be allowed to do so, but the school should not be named SRJK (C) Damansara. Let them move to a new school with a new identity.

3) The building of the new school in Tropicana must go ahead and once it is ready, all the students must move to the new school.

4) It must be clearly stated as to what is to become of the current school premises - who is to take charge of the land title, etc. to clear the air once and for all regarding this issue.