Khat is OK, Pakatan's non-Malay politicians are not

From Malaysiakini:

DAP leaders to meet on Monday over khat issue, say party sources

Lu Wei Hoong  |  Published: Today 4:55 pm  |  Modified: Today 4:58 pm

DAP is calling all its MPs, assemblypersons and central executive committee members to explain about the plan by Education Ministry to introduce khat writing in the Bahasa Melayu syllabus in Chinese vernacular schools.

The move comes amidst widespread objection from the party's grassroots over the matter. 

Sources told Malaysiakini that the briefing session would be held at DAP headquarters in Jalan Pudu starting at 8pm on Monday (Aug 5). 

The meeting, according to one of the sources, will be held as an effort to display the right attitude towards the issue and at the same time quell the uneasiness of DAP members. 

Although a notice for the meeting did not specify an agenda, sources, however, believed that the briefing session would discuss the Jawi calligraphy issue, which is a hot topic among the Chinese community in the country.

"Two days ago (Aug 1), DAP MPs received a notice to meet with central leaders, including party veteran Lim Kit Siang and secretary-general Lim Guan Eng. 

"There was no agenda specified, but I believe this has something to do with the Jawi calligraphy issue," said the source. 

Other sources also shared the same sentiment, saying the matter is now a hotly debated issue among the Chinese community. 

Meetings usually issue-based 

A source said DAP members are criticising each other over the matter. Thus, the source added, there is a possibility that its leaders at the central level are trying to cool down matters over the issue. 

"It is usual for the central leaders to invite members to come for a dialogue whenever there is a hot current issue." 

However, another source claimed Monday’s meeting is only a normal gathering and not related to any specific issue. 

"We always meet every two or three months. The last time a similar gathering like this was held was during the fasting month. This is usual," said the source. 

The Sin Chew Daily recently reported that the Jawi calligraphy khat will be introduced in the Bahasa Melayu curriculum for Standard 4 at the Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools.

Following this report, Tras assemblyperson Chow Yu Hui had led a group of DAP leaders to issue a statement objecting to the new policy. 

They claimed the introduction of khat was an attempt to politicise the use of Jawi writing.

*********

More than ten years ago, in Feb 2006, I posted
Nice Kind of JAWI, obviously NOT referring to the notorious Jabatan Agama Wilayah Persekutuan (wakakaka), but to the Arabic-script Bahasa Melayu.

Then, I had penned:

I feel terribly sad, that while the Malay language continues to be vigorous in its English alphabetical form, the closing of the Jawi newspaper* could well spell the beginning of the end of the unique Arabic-based script, at least in Malaysia. It's surprising the Malaysian government hasn't done much to promote its continuous usage and availability in schools, newspapers and magazines, or am I incorrect here?

* The 67-year-old Utusan Melayu Mingguan, a Malaysian weekly newspaper, published in the Jawi script started publication on 29 May 1939 but came to a stop with its final print on 28 January 2006. The reason? Plain economics due to declining advertising revenue and operational losses.

However, I heard Jawi is still strongly promoted in Aceh and Brunei. People in the southern provinces of Thailand could well be still using Jawi. Let’s keep it running strong too in Malaysia. BTW, does anyone know of a society that promotes the use of Jawi? [...]

I prepared this article one week ago, but am glad that I haven't published it then, because I now can include latest news from the Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Dr Rais Yatim.

First he bemoaned that no one cried or mourned the loss of the Jawi-script newspaper. However, he directed his disappointment at the Malay community, whom he criticised for not caring about their heritage in not supporting the Jawi script any longer.

No worries, Minister, me and that bloke from Kelantan will keep Jawi alive. By the by, both of us are Malaysians, though not Malay. But an advice from me if you please - don't politicise the newspaper too much or the PAS followers may not want to support it. Hey, can anyone tell me whether Harakah has a Jawi version?

The Minister also talked about the Cabinet allocating some money to his ministry to revive the newspaper but in another form. He has my support. Hope it will be some kind of a weekly variety magazine a la Readers Digest size.

As you can see, I'm a supporter, admirer and student (devotee) of the Jawi script, just as I am a supporter, admire and student (devotee) of Chinese script. Thus I am not terribly supportive of DAP people who objected to the introduction of khat in Year 4 schooling for purported fear of Islamisation, though with a qualification which I'll come to in a short while.

And to show I am not unique in my admiration for Jawi and my earnest efforts to learn it, here are some words from my FB (previously blogging) matey, Susan Loone, a journalist form Malaysiakini. She wrote on FB recently:

Don't understand why there is a backlash and hu ha.

I learnt Jawi for 3 years from Std 1 to 3. Proud to say that I can recognise Jawi alphabets and words. It's a very creative system of writing, artistic, refined and can be quite fun. But its just like a few hours a week as in writing class. We learnt to write cursive too, ahem! our writing on paper is quite nice.

I was in Kuantan then. I regret there were no Mandarin classes. Children at a young age can learn quite a lot, the ability to absorb new skills is immense. I even learnt to speak Tamil but without practise, lost the language as time went by.

I'm glad my parents allowed me to learn everything. I remember they only protested hard against issues like canning in school, as I was a victim. Canned by a class monitor in Std 1. Ouch!

Ps. I also learnt Islamic history in University, sat for the exam and got a B. It didn't make me less a Christian 😁

Well said, Susan. Learning new languages as an activity has always been a fun thing for me, though I'm not as talented as some natural polyglots.

Now, while I did say I support the learning of Jawi, let alone just penning khat, I also mentioned above I have a qualification to the introduction of the script in Year 4 schooling. I refer to Malaysiakini columnist Commander S Thayaparan's Is the non-Malay fear of 'khat' legitimate? who wrote (selected extracts):

.. learning this khat writing - or whatever it is - is not going to jeopardise the faith or lack thereof (as may be the case) of non-Malay children. But this is not really the point, is it? What some people fear is the intrusion of culture/religion in our supposedly secular spaces.

The question is, is this fear legitimate? Teo (Kok Seong of UKM's Institute of Ethnic Studies) said that in order for us to move forward as a nation, “the people must be open to learning the arts and cultures of others in order to understand their uniqueness and strength.” [...]

So is opposing khat anti-Malay? People who are concerned about the introduction of khat in our education system are merely reacting to decades of the Islamisation process that turned an education system that was one of the better elements of our colonial legacy into the broken, religious and racially addled system it is today.

I haven't seen the word 'addled' for quite a while so I must thank the Commander for refreshing my long-dormant brain, wakakaka, as that word 'addled' really describes the 3-decades long state of our once-Asian-famous education system since Mahathir's reign in 1981 most appropriately.

addled brain 

addled egg 

Continuing with the Commander's article we come to its most telling part, namely:

The real question is, why even introduce something like this at this moment? Surely there are more important issues in our education system that need to be addressed?

Even in (if?) this was not a cultural issue, is good handwriting a priority when it comes to educating our young people?

What possible benefit could the introduction of khat into our education system have beyond the pabulums espoused by certain non-Muslim intellectuals?

I am afraid the Commander has been spot on - where is the educational benefit for our young school students already trapped in an ill-run schooling system of pitiful standards.

I am ALSO afraid that such a (at this stage) value-less educational policy is consistent with a hair-brained minister who dreams up a series of idiocy such as black shoes, borrowing swimming pools from hotels, cashless kerbau, teachers' restroom, ethnic ratio for the matriculation program based on his perception of Chinese students being rich and thus don't need the abbreviated pre-university course, and his still-ongoing-unending 'holistic evaluations of the UEC which has already (long) been accepted by foreign universities in UK, USA, Australia, NZ, Canada, China, Japan, Russia, and many other European and Asian countries.

OK, continuing on with the last part of the Commander's extracts that I want to share with you:

Instead, this [the khat program] has become a minor skirmish in a culture war that the Harapan government should not engage in.

It also demonstrates that when it comes to anything to do with the Malay/Muslim culture, the normally boisterous political operatives in DAP have suddenly become mute (the grassroots-level of political operatives of the party exempted, of course).

don't look up Chye-Chye

moe chut seeng, hoi kaytee hoe suoi

[translation: jangan bising sedit pun, 'ni kaytee celaka lah]


wakakaka

If this was something that the BN regime had done, you could imagine the controversy it would have generated.

semua kesalahan (termasuk pelajaran khat???) berasal dari Najib - dia harus memberi jelasan

wakakaka 

These days supporters of Bersatu Parti Pribumi are quick to condemn non-Malays when they speak up on the very issues which were political currency for Malay political operatives before the historic May 9 win.

[meaning Parti Pribumi now = UMNO]

This idea that speaking up on “non-Malay” issues would rock the Harapan boat is prevalent in social media.

[therefore, must 'give in' to Mahathir's Parti Pribumi's interests]

When it comes to the culture war, the non-Malays lost a long time ago. The reality is that people who speak up on issues like these are like soldiers who skulk around in jungles not realising the war is over.

Don't look to non-Malay political operatives in Harapan to oppose such measures. They are now part of the problem.

They are now part of the problem