SARAWAK and Sabah are up in arms against the introduction of khat lessons to Year Four pupils in the states’ vernacular schools, with Kuching looking for ways to legally block the move, and Sabah decrying the lack of focus on more urgent needs in its rural schools.

In Sarawak, the state attorney-general is being consulted after Deputy Chief Minister James Masing suggested that state Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Michael Manyin propose to the state cabinet to reject the teaching of khat calligraphy in Sarawak schools.

“Manyin can propose and it’s up to the cabinet to decide,” Masing told The Malaysian Insight on efforts to block lessons on the art.

Masing said Putrajaya should confine the teaching of khat to Islamic schools to allay suspicions by other ethnic groups in Sarawak about the federal government’s motives.

“If it’s Chinese calligraphy in Chinese schools, I don’t think there is any objection. But Jawi calligraphy in Chinese schools?

“It’s ridiculous, unless of course there is a hidden agenda.

“Religion becomes the centrepiece of our concern. We, including our judges, quarrel on religious polemics and how to make a better living for our people,” Masing told the media yesterday.

Manyin, meanwhile, told The Malaysian Insight he would consult with the state A-G first.

Khat lessons will comprise only six out of about 160 pages in the Year 4 Bahasa Melayu textbook. 

The Education Ministry has also stressed that pupils will not be assessed or tested on khat writing, as it is meant for students to appreciate the history and heritage of the national language.

However, political parties in Sarawak are now particularly sensitive to public sentiment as state elections are expected to be held next year.

Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) and the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP),  have stated their full opposition to khat.

Sarawak DAP has said that the majority of Sarawakians are against it and has urged Putrajaya to make khat an optional lesson in vernacular schools in the state.

State DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen said that while Putrajaya might have good intentions to introduce the lessons, there was still too much distrust among Sarawakians towards policies formulated in Putrajaya.

Chong, who is also federal deputy minister of domestic trade and consumer affairs also said the previous Barisan Nasional government is to be blamed for creating the current “education policy mess”.

The policy decision to introduce khat in Chinese and Tamil schools was made in 2014.

DAP’s rival for Chinese support in Sarawak, SUPP, has also stated that it is “absolutely 100%” against the introduction of Jawi writing.

SUPP secretary-general Sebastian Ting said Putrajaya should instead be emulating what neighbouring countries were doing to prepare pupils for a digital economy.

In Sabah, Deputy Chief Minister Christina Liew has lambasted the federal Education Ministry for failing to consult the state before announcing the introduction of khat to the school syllabus.

“Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik should have let the Sabah Education and Innovation Ministry have a say on the matter,” said Liew, who also believes the lessons should be optional.

Sabah’s Rural Development Minister Ewon Benedick also said the subject should be optional, with parents given the space to decide whether to send their children for such lessons. 

The Kadamaian assemblyman said khat had become a distraction to the real issues in Sabah education, such as crumbling school infrastructure and teachers’ welfare. 

Addressing these problems are far more crucial than teaching khat.

“In Sabah, many school construction projects implemented by the federal government are ailing and behind schedule.

“Some are abandoned, some incomplete. There are new schools without staff room or new hostels without toilet.” 

Benedick said there are still rural villages in Sabah that have no easy access to schools and students had to walk for hours.

He also asked why Maszlee was so adamant in introducing khat when more attention should be given to the welfare of Sabah teachers and the unresolved matter of difference regional allowances for teachers in Sabah and the peninsular. 

Maszlee is to hold a press conference this afternoon to address opposition to khat lessons. – August 8, 2019.