YESTERDAY, Dong Zong and seven other organisations issued a joint statement regarding khat, demanding that the Education Ministry reveal the topic’s lesson. It’s about time Dong Zong gives the khat issue a rest because it is reflecting badly on non-Muslims in Malaysia.
Khat is a script used to write words in nearly a dozen non-Arabic languages in Africa, the Middle East, southern India and China.
The acronym “KWSP” in the Employees Provident Fund logo is in the style of khat artwork. Why didn’t anyone make a fuss when the logo was introduced, or sound the alarm when Jawi was used as the second language on road signs? I have been to India, and saw that Urdu (the khat version of Hindi) was used on road signs, in movie titles, and even on government forms.
Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik said the cabinet agreed to reduce the number of pages dedicated to khat in the Year Four Bahasa Malaysia textbook for vernacular schools from six to three, and to make the teaching of khat optional, following a huge public outcry. In order to seek relevance for itself, Dong Zong and other vernacular school movements have hurled brickbats about khat on a near-daily basis.
This gives the impression that non-Muslims are intolerant of other cultures, and are so fragile, fearing that we’ll lose our cultures if we learn khat. At my meeting with the minister on Monday, the senior bureaucrats said there have been no request for a meeting from Dong Zong.
Dong Zong is a close friend of Deputy Education Minister Teoh Nie Ching. Why haven’t Dong Zong and its allies tried meeting the minister, instead of only issuing press statements?
Dong Zong and its allies have become so concerned about the plight of Sabah and Sarawak. However, there was seemingly no reaction when Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng refused to provide funds to repair schools in Sarawak.
Checking with other senior bureaucrats in school divisions, they said Maszlee told them to get ready to meet Dong Zong when it does come forward. However, it appears that the group is more keen to give a press conference calling on the ministry to accept its “demands” than to send a WhatsApp message requesting a meeting with the minister.
Rather than giving a bad impression of non-Muslims, please go and meet the ministry to seek clarification and give input. Hold your press conference if the ministry refuses to meet you. At this rate, the same non-Muslim community that Dong Zong and its allies claim to be fighting for will start sharing the same sentiment as Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Hence, Dong Zong and its allies should calm down and use the proper channels to air their views. – August 21, 2019.
* Sharan Raj reads The Malaysian Insight.
* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.
Abidin Ismail dipilih calon Perikatan untuk PRK Sungai Bakap
Perikatan picks businessman Abidin Ismail for Sungai Bakap
The truth about Sarawak crocodiles
__thumbnail.jpg)
Mitos dan realiti tentang buaya di Sarawak
Comments
- Why didn't you inquire shouldn't MoE introduce, like the rest of the world, information technology age lessons which are race and religions NEUTRAL to avoid controversies? Why, for instance, NOT introducing computer coding (instead of Khat)? We are already falling behind in competing with other nations. The missteps by MoE are making it worse.
" ..... Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng refused to provide funds to repair schools in Sarawak ...."
- Please check your facts! Read the "Borneo Post Online"!
Posted 4 years ago by Malaysian First · Reply
Posted 4 years ago by Mindy Singh · Reply
Posted 4 years ago by Shapiro Niko · Reply
Posted 4 years ago by Shapiro Niko · Reply
Posted 4 years ago by Shapiro Niko · Reply