A coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and political parties today urged the ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) to make a stand on the proposed introduction of jawi for Year 4 pupils starting next year.
Seni Khat Action Team (Sekat) national secretary Arun Dorasamy said the GPS state government has a moral obligation to make a stand as the introduction of Jawi would have far-reaching implications on the future of the non-Muslims school children.
“We feel there is a hidden second agenda in the implementation of jawi in schools,” he told reporters here, claiming an element of religion is involved.
He also called on federal lawmakers from the Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (PH) and GPS to speak up against its implementation in Parliament session starting next month.
Arun also asked if the lawmakers from the two Borneo states or their respective chief ministers have ever written protest letters to Education Minister Maszlee Malik.
He also noted that the Association of Churches in Sarawak had issued its statement opposing the introduction of jawi in government schools, but did not know whether it had sent a protest letter to the minister.
Arun said three pages of the jawi script would be inserted into Bahasa Malaysia textbook which is going to be printed by the end of this month, adding that jawi lesson would be made compulsory for school children.
Arun also asked Maszlee and his deputy Teo Nie Ching to engage with NGOs, including parents-teachers’ associations, in Kuching and Kota Kinabalu for their views and feedback on the implementation next year.
He said the Education Ministry held five engagements with the NGOs in Peninsular Malaysia, but without the participation of any representatives from the two Borneo states.
“When I asked why there was no participation from Sarawak and Sabah, the reply was that they did not oppose,” he said, adding that he does not believe NGOs in the two Borneo states would not oppose the move.
He added the invitations for the engagement must be inclusive, not exclusive.
“The ministry has the moral obligation to bring all the stakeholders to the table and then to come out with an amicable decision.
“There is no reason for a rush implementation in 2020,” he said, claiming that the ministry would be printing the Bahasa textbook, with three pages allocated for jawi script, by the end of this month.
He said he had already written a letter on August 27 to Mazslee asking him to put the implementation of the jawi script on hold, but there was no response yet.
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