The education minister is only interested to meet with SRJK (Cina) Damansara students and their parents who encounter problems transferring to another school.

"I have met the assistant to Education Minister Musa Mohamad and I was told that he would only meet with the students who have problems transferring to Puay Chai (II) or other schools," said Petaling Jaya Utara member of parliament Chew Mei Fun.

Chew, who is from MCA, received a memorandum containing 600 signatures of parents and Damansara New Village residents today from the Save Our School Committee secretary, Tommy Chin.

The memorandum requested a meeting with the education minister and the parents of students who refused to move from the closed Chinese school in Damansara.

SRJK (C) Damansara students have been directed early this year to vacate their school in Damansara New Village and move to Puay Chai (II) in Bandar Utama to await the completion of a new school in Tropicana.

About 67 of the 1,500 students have decided to stay put.

At the Education Ministry this morning, Chin was informed that Musa was away on another function while Deputy Education Minister Hon Choon Kim was present. Nevertheless, Chin persisted in going into the ministry's office.

"I was then asked why I had not come up earlier? Guards at the ground floor did not permit me to go up! I feel like I had been given the runaround," Chin said.

Chin also told reporters that he was only seeking for clarification from the ministry. When asked if he would meet Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi concerning the issue, he said, "We'll see."

Students rally

The front entrance of the ministry was blocked by approximately 50 uniformed students, most of whom were wearing "Save Our School" T-shirts.

Hon's car was initially parked in front on the ministry but he was believed to have left through another exit.

When bottled water was sent down to the children by Hon, the children chanted in unison: "We don't want water, we want our school back!"

Chew claimed that the students were being used by the parents who fear losing the land titles of their homes located near the endangered school.

"The state government had renewed 36 land titles as of yesterday. I believe another 50-60 applications for land title renewals are still pending.

Chew also said that less than a quarter of the land of the controversial school belongs to the board of the school while the rest belongs to the Education Ministry.

She also offered to help parents who have problems transferring their children to Puay Chai (II) or any other school.