File photo for illustration purposes
KUCHING: Chinese education group, Dong Jiao Zong, is adamant that the government must withdraw its decision to introduce khat or Jawi calligraphy for Year 4 pupils in vernacular schools next year, a news report said.
News portal, MySinchew, reported last night that the group felt that the announcement by Education Minister Maszlee Malik earlier yesterday did not fundamentally resolve the problem nor allayed the fears of the country’s multiracial communities.
The group had also said it agreed with the view of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism that khat was an Arabic calligraphic art closely associated with the Islamic religion.
“As such, introducing khat in Chinese and Tamil primary schools is highly inappropriate and in violation of the Federal Constitution Article 12(3),” the report said, quoting a statement issued by the group.
Dong Jiao Zong, which is made up of United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia and the United Chinese School Teachers’ Association of Malaysia, had initially urged Putrajaya to postpone the move.
Yesterday, Maszlee said the Cabinet had unanimously approved the introduction of khat in the Bahasa Malaysia syllabus for vernacular schools next year but with the number of pages in the textbook reduced from six to three.
Additionally, a Bernama report quoted him saying: “The Cabinet also decided that the introduction of khat will be made optional, with teachers having the power to decide on their own methods of implementation.
After the announcement, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, who is also Finance Minister, urged Malaysians to move on now that the government had decided that the teaching of khat in vernacular primary schools is optional.
“This decision… will not please everyone, including those from the non-Malay community, who requested that the implementation of introducing khat or Jawi illustrations be deferred pending consultation with all the stakeholders in Chinese and Tamil primary schools.
“However, the cabinet decision yesterday that it is not compulsory but optional and not to be tested in exams would hopefully allow Malaysians to move forward,” he said in a statement.