Azmin dismisses claim Anwar stunted Chinese school growth

(FMT) – PKR Deputy President Mohamed Azmin Ali today slammed MCA President Liow Tiong Lai for claiming that Anwar Ibrahim curtailed the development of Chinese schools as education minister some 25 years ago.

“It is a baseless allegation and I know it because I was Anwar’s private secretary then,” Azmin told reporters after opening the RM28.9 million flyover linking the LDP to Puchong Utama and Batu 14 here.

The Selangor Menteri Besar said this in response to reports which quoted Liow as claiming that Anwar had stunted the growth of Chinese schools nationwide.

For instance, he reportedly said, requests to set up more Chinese schools were ignored by Anwar.

“Reasonable requests were entertained and allocations given, including to Chinese schools, that were in need during that particular time,” he added.

Anwar, who is now serving a five year jail term in Sungai Buloh prison for sodomy, was education minister between 1986 and 1991.

Liow, who is Transport Minister, also compared Anwar with Prime Minister Najib Razak who was education minister between 1995 and 2000.

He said Najib, who is now prime minister, had contributed much to the development of Chinese schools.

This is not the first time Liow has attacked Anwar over Chinese schools. Back in 2014 he claimed that Anwar “contributed RM10 to Chinese education”, compared with Najib who had allocated RM465 million the year before.

He had also blamed the then Opposition leader for suppressing Chinese schools and causing the protests that eventually led to the Ops Lalang security crackdown in 1987.