A fund-raising dinner organised by a USJ Chinese education lobby group to raise funds for their activities has been delayed when the dinner venue was suddenly cancelled.

The dinner, which was to be held at Wisma Lim Foo Yong in SS 13, Subang Jaya, on June 2, was aimed to collect fundings for various campaigns undertaken by the group.

However, the leaseholders of the building, Sri Sedaya, cancelled the booking two weeks ago.

The lobby group had previously undertaken a signature campaign calling for the conversion of the USJ 15 Vision school to a full Chinese school and for the immediate construction of the SJKC Chee Wen.

Desmond Tee, a committee member of the Working Committee for the Development of Chinese Schools in Subang Jaya/USJ, said Sri Sedaya sent him a letter informing him of the cancellation due to "unforeseen circumstances".

The company returned the deposit along with RM500 as compensation for the cancellation. Sri Sedaya is a private school occupying Wisma Lim Foo Yong, formerly a commercial building. It is learnt that the school is applying for a license to convert the building for educational purposes.

When contacted, Sri Sedaya principal, Peter Tan, declined to comment on the reasons for the cancellation of the school hall for the dinner.

Dissatisfied with reason

"We have held quite a number of functions over there, but the building was previously under the Lim Foo Yong management," Tee said, adding that the working committee was dissatisfied with the reason given for the cancellation.

Tee said the fund-raising dinner has been postponed to June 3 and will be held at the Sungei Way Chinese primary school hall. In a press statement, the USJ lobby group regretted the inconvenience caused by the cancellation.

Chee Wen is central to the controversy over Chinese education issues. Chinese education lobbyists have been fighting for the school to be built as a Chinese primary school to cater to the large Chinese population in USJ.