PETALING JAYA: Indians living in Kampung Lindungan, Sunway, are disappointed that the Pakatan Rakyat administration in Shah Alam is no better than its predecessor was when it comes to fulfilling promises.
They are getting tired of waiting for the Seaport Tamil school to be built and may boycott the next general election, according to a resident who identified himself only as Rajan.
The issue has been raging for close to two decades.
Soon after Pakatan ousted BN in 2008, Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim and state executive councillor Dr Xavier Jeyakumar promised that the state would provide a two-acre site for the school. “But nothing has been issued in writing,” Rajan said.
According to him, about 10,000 Indians are resident in Kampung Lindungan, formerly known as Desa Mentari.
"We are tired of hearing promises from BN and Pakatan Rakyat on the school issue,” he said. “I hope they realise that the general election will be soon and we are very very unhappy."
In 1995, after several years of pressure from the locals, the then BN government agreed to allocate seven acres in Mentari Court for the construction of a cluster of schools, including one with Tamil as the medium of instruction.
However, the state subsequently approved plans to build medium-cost apartments instead at the location.
Following an uproar, the government allocated another site in Desa Mentari for the schools. This time the land size would be 7.3 acres. However, the cluster would not include a Tamil school. The proposal was to have it isolated to a different site of a little under one acre.
The Indians waited, but nothing materialised despite appeals to MIC big shots in Kelana Jaya and Subang.
Given to mosque
In 2006, the community received what seemed like a reprieve when newly minted Kelana Jaya MIC chief N Sinnasamy said the government was considering the matter.
Soon, however, Menteri Besar Mohd Khir Toyo declared that MIC had “generously” given up half of the allocated land for a mosque.
Furious residents then took up the matter with the Kelana Jaya representative in the state assembly, Seripah Noli Syed Hussin, who assured them that the land still belonged to the school and that Khir’s announcement was the result of a misunderstanding.
In the run-up to the 12th general election, MIC President S Samy Vellu visited the area and announced that he had convinced the state to allocate 1.8 acres for the school.
But it was all just talk, Rajan said, adding that the situation had not changed since the Pakatan victory in Selangor.
"The state government has not even attempted to build new schools,” he said.
"Both governments have failed the residents of Desa Mentari. All our requests have fallen on deaf ears.
"All they want is money, position and our votes.”
