The government has allocated RM64.84 million for fully-aided government Tamil schools under the Ninth Malaysian Plan, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Education Ministry G Komala Devi said on top of that, another RM100 million has also been allocated for these schools by the government.

"As of October, 163 government-aided Tamil schools have received RM11.6 million from the fund," she said.

Komala (BN-Kapar) was replying to a query from K Devamany (BN-Cameron Highlands) who asked the education minister to state the mid-term achievement of the Ninth Malaysian Plan on developing the infrastructure of Tamil schools.

In answering a supplementary question from Devamany, Komala said her ministry has an open mind and was always ready to assist all schools regardless of background and stream.

Opposition easily confused

Devamany asked if the ministry agreed with the accusation of a deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department that the government does not care about the welfare of Tamil schools in the country.

He was referring to PPP president M Kayveas who stated that the government has ignored the plight of Tamil schools.

Komala said the ministry, besides allocating funds for a school's physical development, also provides grants for all students including free text books and tuition vouchers.

M Kualasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) asked Komala the reasons as to why the government has failed to provide the list of Tamil schools that will be built under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

"Once, the education minister said that no Tamil and Chinese schools will be built under the plan, but every time a question is raised, ministry officials say that RM64.8 million has been allocated for Tamil schools. Where are the schools being built?" Kulasegaran asked.

To this, Komala responded by saying that the opposition is often confused with statements issued by the government.

"Although we have issued many statements, the opposition often goes back to a particular statement that is no more in standing.

"I would like to stress here that the education minister has good relationship with Chinese leader (MCA president) Ong Ka Ting and Indian leader (MIC president) S Samy Vellu. Their views are often taken into consideration before any decision is made."

Question time important

In a separate development, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Ramli Ngah Talib advised all MPs and ministry officials to be present in the House for the question and answer session.

He explained that the presence of the executives is important as the questions posed are important to the government and the people.

"Even though we receive some 1,200 questions, we have to filter these questions to pick only important questions," Ramli said.

"A committee will filter the questions according to subjects, topics, degree of importance and currency before deciding on the questions that will be posed each day," he said.

"The questions then will be divided into various categories, and 25 important questions will be picked to be asked in the Dewan daily. However, more often than not, we only manage to go through 13 questions even after the questions and answer session has been extended from an hour to an hour and half," he added.

He said that the minister, his deputy or the parliamentary secretary must be present to answer the first 13 questions which are considered important for the public.

In the event they are absent, the ministry officials must approach executives from other ministries to answer the question on their behalf.

Ramli, explaining that it is up to the ministry to give an oral or written reply, said: "I will not judge the answer given. It's up to the individual who asked the question to judge the answer."

Yesterday, the House skipped more than 10 questions because the MPs who posed the questions were absent from the Dewan Rakyat.