Ting (eighth left), Wee (centre) and representatives from Jin Han Lian Sheng Hua Zong, Sarawak Hua Tuan, various Chinese school board at the dialogue session today. – Photo by Voon Siang Pin
KUCHING: Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) will always stand by various Chinese associations (Hua Tuan) in times of policy making and implementation to defend the interests of the Chinese community.
Its secretary-general Datuk Sebastian Ting said the party will always be on the side of Hua Tuan and not give in to any policy that would put the Chinese community’s interests at stake.
The Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture made such pledge during a dialogue session held at the Federation of Chinese Associations of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Division’s (Jin Han Lian Sheng Hua Zong) secretariat in City Square here today.
Among those who attended the dialogue session were representatives from Jin Han Lian Sheng Hua Zong, Sarawak Hua Tuan, various Chinese school boards and a legal team headed by Ting.
They mainly touched on the Dec 28 (last year) gathering supposedly organised by the educationist group Dong Jiao Zong in Peninsular Malaysia, but was prevented from happening by the police.
The dialogue session was aimed at looking into the next course of action most probably a legal one following the stop order end of last year.
Jin Han Lian Sheng Hua Zong president Dato Richard Wee, in a statement in the Chinese language, said their stand concurred with that of the United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong).
“We are not against the teaching of Jawi calligraphy for we believe that learning an additional language has its advantage.
“What we are opposing to is that the Ministry of Education (MoE) made the teaching and learning of Jawi calligraphy compulsory,” he said.
Wee added that Sarawak Hua Tuan hoped that SUPP would stand by them and help voice the concerns and aspirations of the Chinese community.
The Dec 28 gathering planned by Dong Jiao Zong was reported to be an indoor event to discuss the implementation of Jawi script lessons in vernacular schools rather than a protest.
Police, however, prevented the educationist group from having the gathering.
Dong Jiao Zong was left with no choice but to cancel the Dec 28 event after it was served with a court order the day before the scheduled gathering.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador had said that the police had obtained the court order as a safety precaution.
Jawi calligraphy, which was to be introduced in three pages of the Primary Four Bahasa Malaysia subject starting Jan 1 this year, had caused an uproar among various groups.
It is believed to be one of the reasons leading to Dr Maszlee Malik being asked to resign as the education minister.