The Malaysian Insight

OPPONENTS of the government’s plan to introduce khat or Jawi writing at Year 4 in vernacular schools must think and behave rationally, Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik said.

There is no need to behave emotionally about the matter as khat calligraphy is just a small component of the education syllabus, he said in response to a loose alliance of groups that said it would get parents to stop sending children to school if the government didn’t address their concerns over the plan.

“We need to be rational. There’s no need to involve our children in an emotional way,” Maszlee said after an event at a teachers’ training institute in Penang today.

“Be realistic. Education is something all communities want to invest in,” he added.

Maszlee was commenting on the call by the Seni Khat Action Team (Sekat), a coalition of groups that oppose plans to introduce khat in the Year 4 Bahasa Melayu syllabus for Chinese and Tamil schools next year.

The group said it would urge parents to stop sending their children to school if the government did not postpone the plan and discuss it with them first.

This is even after Putrajaya said Jawi writing would be scaled down from six pages to three, be optional for vernacular schools and would not be tested in examinations.

Maszlee said his advice to be rational was not only directed at Sekat but other opponents of the plan too.

“If we prevent our children from going to school, they will end up playing by the roadside and be exposed to social ills.

“As parents and community leaders, we are responsible for ensuring that our children go to school.

“The ministry has also embarked on the ‘Zero Reject Policy’ that is aimed at ensuring no child is prevented from going to school.”

Public debate over khat has dragged on for more than a month, including speculation from certain non-Malay quarters that it would be used as an “Islamisation tool”.

Opponents from Sabah and Sarawak, meanwhile, say their state governments should have been consulted in recognition of the states’ autonomy over education.

The plan to introduce khat next year for Year 4 pupils in vernacular schools was mooted by the previous Barisan Nasional government and recently revived by the current government. – August 27, 2019.