KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 — The Education Ministry (MOE) has never received a complete application from the board of governors of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) Khai Chee in Segambut over the construction of an additional school building on private land.

The ministry announced in a statement today that a complete application needed to fulfil three set conditions before it was given proper consideration.

"The ministry appreciates the public’s efforts that also contribute to the development of education in the country. However, we would like to stress that the board’s action of not considering our admonishment and proceeding with the construction of the additional building on private land was improper.

"The ministry will not be pressured by any party into accepting any building as a government school because it is subject to regulations and legal provisions,” the statement read.

According to the ministry, one of the conditions set was that the school needed to provide evidence that Chevron Malaysia Limited had opened or disposed of a caveat pertaining to the site.

In addition, the school needed to resubmit the project scope to comply with the Development Planning Rules and Guidelines by the Standards and Cost Sub-committee of the National Development Planning Committee under the Prime Minister’s Department.

The third condition is that the board needed to submit a letter of guarantee to hand over the site and new building to the government as the school was a government school.

From 2012 to 2014, SJKC Khai Chee’s board of governors, through the school’s headmaster applied to construct a new block on private land as an addition to the school.

The suggested construction of the additional building had to comply with the construction guidelines of government educational institutions as SJKC Khai Chee is a government school built on land owned by the Federal Lands Commissioner.

The ministry also informed that the report and inspection conducted by the Kuala Lumpur Education Department in 2014 revealed that the construction of the additional building began on the proposed site without obtaining approval from the ministry.

As such, a stop work order was issued by the Kuala Lumpur Education Department on December 8, 2014 as the building had been proposed to be used as a government school.

"Checks revealed that the board of governors carried on with the construction. As such the department issued a second stop work order to the board on September 7, 2015.

"The board disregarded the stop work order and construction continued till the building was completed,” the statement read. — Bernama