KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 — The primary school SJK(C) Tche Min should step forward to explain the recent controversy regarding brewery brand Tiger Beer’s role in a fundraising dinner and clarify that the elected lawmakers who attended the event as guests — including Parti Amanah Negara’s Datuk Aiman Athirah Sabu — did not have prior knowledge of this, DAP lawmaker Lwi Kian Keong has said.
Lwi said both he and Aiman were called on stage during the school’s fundraising event when donations were announced and mock cheques were handed over, but said they had not known that the mock cheques would have the brewery’s logo.
“It was only when we were on stage that we learned that the mock cheque they bought out had a Tiger Beer logo,” he was quoted saying yesterday to news portal Malaysiakini.
Lwi also reportedly said that the lawmakers did not know before the event that a brewery was a strategic partner for the school’s fundraising event, and criticised the school for not stepping forward to admit that it was the school’s mistake.
“The school has not come forward to say, ‘This dinner was organised by us, don’t blame it on the MP’,” he said.
Lwi also reportedly said the responsibility is not with him and Aiman as they were asked to go on stage without prior knowledge.
“The school should clarify that the two elected representatives were invited on stage without prior knowledge... the responsibility lies with the school, and we are innocent!”
“The trouble was caused by your school. If you had not taken a mock cheque with the Tiger Beer logo that night, there would be no issue at all!” he told Malaysiakini.
Malaysiakini also reported Lwi as saying in a statement yesterday that the school’s board’s invitation letter to him and Aiman had described the event as a charity dinner and had not mentioned the beer company as a strategic partner.
He reportedly said the beer company did not make direct donations to the school but gave a platform for the school to raise its own funds, and that the event organisers had provided halal meals for Muslims who attended.
He also said there was no promotion or advocacy of drinking during the fundraising event, and that the focus remained on fundraising for the school to support educational development.
Lwi who is the Sungai Pelek state assemblyman and Aiman who is the Sepang MP had respectively announced RM10,000 and RM100,000 contributions to build a new hall for the school, which is within their constituencies.
“As elected representatives, we have an obligation to help raise RM3 million for the school to build a multipurpose hall. However, Aiman becoming a target of attack is clearly an attempt by some malicious individuals to divert attention and undermine the Malaysian government’s effort to treat education for all races equally,” he was quoted saying by Malaysiakini.
