What Lim Kit Siang learnt was Jawi, not khat

From TMI:

Know your khat and Jawi

by Ravinder Singh


SOME people are confused over Jawi and khat.

khat but not Jawi 

Jawi is similar to Urdu, which is a script used for writing, like the Roman alphabet.

Khat is calligraphy, an artistic variation of the basic script. There is calligraphy of all scripts, not just Jawi.

Jawi calligraphy is used principally in writing decorative Quranic verses.

Before one can go on to khat or calligraphy of any other scripts, one must be good at handwriting and art as different writing instruments are used in calligraphy e.g. brushes and broad tipped pens of various sizes.

Just what is the objective of introducing khat (just six pages of it) in Year Four? Some Year Four pupils cannot even write properly, let alone be good artists. They have yet to learn to appreciate good discipline and moral values, how are they to appreciate something as abstract as an art form?

First, one must be good at writing Jawi before advancing to khat. What Lim Kit Siang learnt was Jawi, not khat.

I find it ridiculous that the stated objective is to allow 10-year-olds to “appreciate” the art form of khat!

At this age can they even write ABC (which they have been learning since kindergarten) in calligraphic form?

It’s going to be just a waste of children’s time. Whoever proposed this may have some other objective or agenda in mind. Will the children be taught to write some Quranic verses in khat? If so, what follows after that?

One thing that is most disturbing in our schools, both primary and secondary, is discipline. What is being done to bring child discipline back to what it used to be in the 1950s and 1960s? This area of education is important as it goes to the root of developing the character of the nation. It is directly related to the gross indiscipline on our roads and in society in general – the crimes, corruption, lack of morals.

Yet people who are charged with developing human character and by extension the moral character of society and the nation are not the least concerned about taking this bull by the horns. How will learning calligraphy at 10 years of age make them morally better citizens of tomorrow?