‘Put teaching of Jawi on hold’
Have discussions with stakeholders first, says congress
PETALING JAYA: The National Congress on Jawi passed several resolutions after a two-hour meeting, chief of which was to put on hold the teaching of a Jawi calligraphy module in the Year Four Bahasa Melayu syllabus without a detailed discussion with all stakeholders.
The group’s spokesperson Arun Dorasamy said more focus should be given on strengthening Bahasa Melayu as the national language while upholding vernacular schools and mother tongue education.
He said participants of the congress were of the opinion that Jawi calligraphy should be made an elective learning module for the pupils, away from the formal syllabus.
“We call on the Education Ministry to defer the implementation so that a roundtable discussion involving all stakeholders can be held.
“A list of resolutions passed today on the issue will be submitted to the ministry tomorrow (today),” he told a press conference after the meet.
The organisers of yesterday’s congress were Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Jawi Teaching Special Committee (JTSC) and Seni Khat Action Team (Sekat).
A few hundred people, including representatives from vernacular schools board of governors, as well as Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), attended the meeting.
Among the speakers included columnist and lecturer Prof Dr Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi, activist lawyer Siti Kasim, Dayak Rights Action Force activist Bobby William and SJK (T) Ladang Emerald’s PTA chairman K. Thayalan.
Arun said they had set up an appointment with the ministry’s officials in Putrajaya at 11.30am to submit the resolutions.
‘’We want to work with the government and find a win-win solution on this issue,’’ he said.
Arun, who is also Sekat national secretary, said the congress was aimed at deracialising the teaching of Jawi in vernacular schools.
Initially, it was intended to complement the Chinese educationist group Dong Jiao Zong meeting on Saturday that was cancelled following a court order by the police, citing safety concerns.
The group also called for a dialogue with Education Minister Dr
Maszlee Malik to discuss the issue.
JTSC coordinator Datuk Eddie Heng Hong Chai said the ministry should help pupils in vernacular schools master Bahasa Melayu by improving the teaching system because at least 20% of them failed the subject.
“We are not against learning Jawi calligraphy. It should not be compulsory but an option.
“Also, we want to protect the school boards’ authority in deciding school policies, as it is unsuitable to leave the decision-making solely to the parents as many of them are not too interested or aware of the impact,” he said.
Heng said the school boards should be given a say in deciding such matters.
“That is why we hope the ministry will listen to our concerns,” said Heng, who heads the SJK(C) Sentul KL school board of governors.
He also noted the possibility of a legal challenge against the ministry as a last resort.
“This is not what we want. We hope for a dialogue session with the ministry so that a consensus can be reached,” he said.
According to the ministry, Jawi calligraphy was to be introduced in three pages of the Year Four Bahasa Melayu subject starting Jan 1.
This caused an uproar among various groups, prompting the ministry to first let teachers decide if they wanted to teach Jawi to pupils before passing the decision to parents in the latest guidelines.
Earlier in his speech, Prof Tajuddin said it was not right to label vernacular schools as “antinational” because schools in Malaysia were originally set up by the community before independence.
“Leaders should understand that education is a right of the people whereby they only play the role of facilitators.
“When there are problems, they should meet the people and address the issues,” he said.
William said the government must not treat students like “white rats in the laboratory”, and called for more discussions before implementing any new policy.
I HEARD some people say that Dong Zong is an extremist organisation. I know them as a group of Chinese organisations committed to protecting Chinese schools.
I do not think protecting and defending one’s language and culture in a multicultural country makes you an extremist.
Citizens of this country have the right to assemble and express their views on what they consider their rights, so long as they do so peacefully.
The right to assemble and to air your beliefs is not just for the Malays – it’s for all Malaysians.
Have we become apartheid? With one set of rules for one group and another for the rest of the people?
I hope not. I am here to lend support to this fundamental right of everyone to express themselves, free of threat and coercion.
Malaysians must unite to oppose hypocrisy and double standards.
The government has made a decision, without much consultation, where vernacular schools must have a Jawi lesson.
The non-Malay community could not accept this. If it is optional, they probably would not mind.
Today, I urge the government to resolve the impasse and make this introduction of Jawi optional.
There is no compelling reason why Jawi must be made mandatory in Chinese schools at the cost of further breaking up our community.
If the Malays want to go back to using Jawi, by all means do so; no one is stopping them.
If the Chinese schools do not want to use them, similarly they have the right to do so.
Let the Chinese community prevail over this matter. After all, vernacular schools have contributed immensely to our country by producing a capable workforce.
They are here to stay and let’s accept them and move on.
There is no need to tinker and reshape vernacular schools.
The Constitution under Article 152 (read in totality) protects vernacular schools and the learning of Chinese, Tamil and other languages.
The Malays have accepted their existence in the last 60 years; there is no reason for them to oppose them now, although some leaders will try to provoke them to do so.
There are thousands of nonChinese parents who send their children to vernacular schools.
I see them, together with private schools, as an essential part of our education system.
The government needs to honour the agreement made in 1957, and that of 1963 and 2018, not only for its credibility but the country will not be able to move forward if we always look for excuses to reinterpret the Constitution and to revisit the practices of the earlier administration.
Of course, if we do not want to honour these agreements, we can find excuses to do so. But at what cost to the country?
The non-Malay communities have contributed significantly to the development of Malaya, and then Malaysia. If it were not for them, Malaysia would not be so developed.
The Muslims here would not be able to impress their poorer Muslim brothers from other countries during the recent KL Summit were it not for the contribution of the non-Malays in the last 150 years.
It’s time we give due respect to the non-Malay communities, and we can do this by ceding to them the right to manage and administer vernacular schools as they see fit.
The government must show leadership in this difficult time by being fair to all.
What is good for the goose must be good for the gander. They need to temper the demand touted by the Malay congress.
In the first 30 years of our independence, the economy was our priority. Then we were distracted. A list of “sensitive policies” was adopted that were unnecessary and divisive.
Today I expect the government of Pakatan Harapan to be more pragmatic, to continue with much-needed development.
For that to happen, they must be willing to reject failed political ideas that distracted us, that have hampered our unity and common purpose for so long. Economic development and greater equality will bring peace and harmony.
However, we do not achieve prosperity and harmony by government policies that compel and force a large section of the people to accept what they do not want. Unity is achieved by consent, never by compulsion.
For the country to progress, we need the support of the non-Malay community. There is no need to alienate them with policies that bring no tangible benefits to the country.
To move forward and bring economic prosperity, we need everyone to work together.
We need more jobs, more investments, more entrepreneurs and a more skilled workforce.
Any further distraction on issues like vernacular schools, race, religion and language will hinder much-needed progress and, like in other countries, it’s always the economically weaker group who suffers the most from such an event.
I hope common sense and goodwill will prevail in our country, especially among our leaders so that we can resolve all outstanding issues quickly.
We need to move on.
For the country to progress, we need the support of the non-Malay community. There is no need to alienate them with policies that bring no tangible benefits to the country. Datuk Zaid Ibrahim