Zahid Supports Restoring School S Name To Sjkc Tun Omar Ong Yoke Lin

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Former education minister Mahdzir Khalid approved using Ong Yoke Lin’s name for the school in 2017. (Bernama pic)
KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has urged the education ministry to reinstate the original name of SJKC Tun Omar Ong Yoke Lin, which was changed to SJKC Gamuda Cove.
Zahid, who is also a deputy prime minister, said he would raise the matter in a Cabinet meeting.
MCA president Wee Ka Siong earlier said the school’s original name, which honours MCA founder Omar Ong Yoke Lin, had been approved by former education minister Mahdzir Khalid in 2017.
Wee said he discovered that the school’s name had been changed following a groundbreaking ceremony for SJKC Gamuda Cove’s construction on Wednesday.
“I fully agree with Wee’s remarks and support MCA’s call to reinstate the name SJKC Tun Omar Ong Yoke Lin. This is not a racial issue,” Zahid said at BN’s golden jubilee celebration at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur today.
In his speech earlier, Wee had noted that Ong was a founding member of MCA, a prominent figure in Malaysia’s independence movement, and a minister in former prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman’s Cabinet.
He said Ong, who converted to Islam in 1961, died on July 1, 2010 at the age of 92.
“Is he not deserving of national recognition? The decision (to name the school after him) was communicated to his widow, Aishah Ong, seven years ago,” said the Ayer Hitam MP. - FMT

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