St Luke road to SmB St Luke in dangerous situation

SRI AMAN: The 149-year-old SRB St Luke primary school may soon be destroyed by landslide if steps are not taken to stop soil erosion, claimed DAP Sri Aman chairman Leon Jimat Donald.

He said the erosion had caused the road to SMB St Luke secondary school, which is located above SRB St Luke, to start giving way since last year.

In the event of continuous rain within the next few days, he believed the road would pose a danger to users of the road, including the students and teachers.

“We have checked the condition of the road in front of the gate of St Luke Secondary school.

“We found out that it poses a clear and present danger to the students of SRB St Luke primary school. Even the guardhouse of the secondary school is in danger of collapsing at any time,” he said yesterday.

Both schools are located behind St Luke’s Church within the Sri Aman town centre.

Leon said the schools were founded by Revd Father William Crossland in 1863, and had produced outstanding individuals who went on to become successful individuals in both the public and private sectors.

At the moment, he said the schools had about 3,000 students from various races and religions.

Because of the historic significance and contributions of the schools, he called one elected representatives in Sri Aman to be more proactive and sympathetic to the problems plaguing the students and teachers of St Luke’s primary and secondary schools.

He said Sri Aman MP Masir Kujat, for instance, could have allocated some of the RM1.5 million special fund for repair works to be done. He pointed out the same could have been done by Simanggang assemblyman Datuk Francis Harden Hollis.

“No action has been taken by the relevant authorities to repair or build a retention wall to stop the erosion.

As a former student of St Luke, said he brought up the matter because of the many complaints brought up by the members of the public.

“Many of them did not know whom to look for to lodge complaints over this matter,” said the probable Pakatan Rakyat candidate for the constituency.