Gerakan vice-president Dr Tan Kee Kwong today said he will bring up the SRJK (C) Damansara issue to the next Gerakan Central Commitee meeting this month.

Tan said this after meeting with a group of parents who had gone to the Gerakan headquarters to protest against the transfer of the students to SRJK (C) Puay Chai (II) in Bandar Utama and the closing of the 70-year-old SRJK (C) Damansara in Damansara New Village.

"Being part of the government, we agree with the decision of the Education Ministry which said the students should transfer to Puay Chai (II) and that the decision is final.

"The parents, however, want us to raise the issue of reinstating the 70-year-old school. This issue has been discussed in our meetings and the cabinet, but I will raise the issue again at the central commitee meeting," said Tan.

Despite a directive from the Education Ministry for 1,400 students of the old school to move to the Puay Chai (II) temporarily until the new school in Tropicana is ready, some 60 parents remain adamant to protest the move.

The protesting students have been continuing lessons in makeshift classes at the temple grounds nearby as the SRJK (C) Damansara has been sealed off by the Education Ministry since early January.

Ronnie Liu, adviser to the action committee to save the old school, said that Tan also confirmed there was a swap of school between Puay Chai (II) and the new SRJK (C) Damansara to be built in Tropicana.

"Tan confirmed that the site on which the new school is to be built in Tropicana is supposed to be where Puay Chai (II) would have been built, and the site where Puay Chai (II) is now is supposed to be the new Damansara school," said Liu, who is also the DAP publicity secretary.

Tan, who is MP for Segambut and deputy minister for land and cooperative development, also met with two parents who are on hunger strike to protest the transfer of their children.

Construction on fast track

Meanwhile, work on the new SRJK (C) Damansara in Tropicana has started, a visit to the site revealed today.

Lorries have started bringing in raw materials such as sand, bricks and iron beams, with the site cordoned off.

One of the workers said that this project will definitely be a "quickie" as they have to complete the school by the end of this year.

The two-lane road was also congested with traffic as residents and non-residents used it as an alternative to avoid the traffic from the Sprint Highway and cut through to Petaling Jaya. As there are many apartments, condominiums and luxury housing areas with no public transport of any kind servicing the area, the traffic at times turn to a crawl.

The construction of the school came under criticism from those who are against the move to completely transfer the old SRJK (C) Damansara from Damansara New Village to Tropicana after it was said that the new site was not suitable for a school.

Besides the location at a ravine, a reservoir stands beside the proposed school, which is also near high tension wires, with pylons just next to the playing field.