PETALING JAYA: Non-governmental organisations and education groups that are against the teaching of Jawi in vernacular schools will take legal action to challenge its implementation, if all other attempts to pressure the ministry to reverse the policy fail.
Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Jawi Teaching Special Committee (JTSC) coordinator Datuk Eddie Heng Hong Chai noted that many parents and teachers have expressed grave concern on the Education Ministry’s decision to introduce Jawi to Year Four students in all schools beginning next year.
He pointed out that this is despite calls and protest from various quarters for the government to cancel its plan, but said the group would still attempt to hold dialogues with the ministry.
“We want the ministry to hear what’s on our mind. If they still refuse to listen to us and make the necessary changes, then our final recourse is to take action through our legal system.
“This is not ultimately what we want. We hope for is engagement with the Education Ministry and to reach a consensus. But if that fails, then we will take the matter to court,” he said at the National Jawi Congress, here, today.
Gabungan Seni Khat Action Group (Sekat) national secretary Arun Dorasamy, in a press conference later, said any legal pursuit would be a collective action and jointly represented by all the groups that are against Jawi teachings in vernacular schools.
Earlier in his speech, Heng lamented that those in vernacular schools were already burdened with having to learn the Malay and English languages, as well as their own mother tongue.
He said adding Jawi to the mix would only confuse the students further and make learning more difficult for them, while also questioning the government’s motive to introduce the script.
“If I reject something, and you still insist that I take it and shove it in my throat, do you think I am going to swallow it? I would like to know what is the (reason for the) government’s decision (to introduce Jawi)?
“There is always this fear and doubt that there is Islamisation in our education system. And it is our constitutional right to express our fear. The objection is simply because there is this fear of ill intention,” he said.
