The Penang government has granted SMJK Chung Ling in Butterworth conditional approval to manage a plot of state land for its activities, but questioned a former chief minister’s push for the school to be granted control.
Chief minister Chow Kon Yeow said they decided to approve the application by the school board, submitted on July 22.
The decision follows calls by former chief minister Lim Guan Eng for the land to be managed by the school since a former parent-teacher association chairman had spent half a million ringgit to build a basketball court on the land.
Chow said the land is owned by the state, which has the right to make any decision on it based on existing laws.
He said the basketball court was constructed without the board seeking government or local authority agreement.
“Constructing a basketball court on the lot does not give the builder any rights to the land.
“Therefore, Lim’s demands for the management rights to be given to the school are baseless and perplexing,” he said at a press conference here.
On Nov 8, China Press reported Lim as calling for the land rights to be returned to SMJK Chung Ling Butterworth.
Chow also listed the conditions for the school if it wanted to obtain management rights over the land.
He said it must submit the building plan of the basketball court to the Seberang Perai City Council (MBSP) for it to be legalised.
The school must also not build further structures on the said plot.
It must also continue to allow residents at Taman Teratai Indah to use the basketball court and the land as a parking lot.
“And the state government has the right to take back the land at any given time, with no compensation awarded to the school,” he said.
