Anti-Jawi rally just to ‘express feelings’, says Chinese education group
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A RALLY by Chinese education groups against introductory Jawi lessons for vernacular schools is not a protest, but an appeal to the government to cancel the move, Dong Jiao Zong chairman Tan Tai Kim said.
He was responding to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s warning earlier today that insistence on holding the rally could lead to other repercussions, such as Malay pressure groups reasserting their calls for vernacular schools to be shut down.
Tan added that Dong Jiao Zong will make a final decision on whether to hold the rally at a meeting on December 26.
The umbrella group representing the United Chinese Schools Teachers’ Association (Jiao Zong) and the United Chinese School Committees’ Association (Dong Zong) recently announced plans for a rally at the New Era College in Kajang.
They said the rally is to state their stand against the Education Ministry’s move to have introductory Jawi writing lessons in the Year 4 Bahasa Melayu textbook for vernacular schools.
Dong Jiao Zong had asked other Chinese-interest groups to register with Dong Zong to join the rally, adding that Tamil education groups will also be invited.
Dr Mahathir earlier today said that the rally could prompt Malay pressure groups to hold their own gathering and renew rhetoric about closing down vernacular schools.
“You do that kind of thing, and you will get a reaction,” he was quoted as saying in media reports when speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the KL Summit 2019 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre today.
Dr Mahathir said Malaysia is made up of people of different races and people have to be mindful about how other ethnic groups felt.
He said it is up to people to attend the rally as “this is a free country” but added that sensitivity should be shown towards other races.
The Education Ministry has already reduced the number of pages on introductory Jawi lessons in the Year 4 BM textbook for vernacular schools from six to three.
The three pages dealt with interpretation and explanation of the meaning of Jawi script used in national symbols, such as the government logo “Jata Negara”, on stamps and on ringgit notes.
Following earlier outcry from vernacular education groups, the ministry has since decided to allow vernacular schools the freedom to decide on their own whether to implement the introductory lessons or not. This is to be decided through surveys of parents and parent-teacher associations.
Dong Jiao Zong, however, has said there is not enough time to do so as the new school year begins next month, and that there has been no training for their teachers to be able to implement the lessons. – December 20, 2019.