Another congress opposed to Jawi khat to be held after Dong Jiao Zong's

A group calling itself Gabungan Seni Khat Action Team (Sekat) will be organising a National Jawi Congress set to take place one day after Dong Jiao Zong's Chinese Organisations Congress session to protest the introduction of Jawi lessons in vernacular schools.

Sekat's National Jawi Congress, which will take place on Dec 29 at the Crystal Crown Hotel in Petaling Jaya, is to pressure the Education Ministry to go back to the drawing board when it comes to the introduction of Jawi lessons as part of a compulsory subject.

"We want to exert more pressure on the Education Ministry to go back to the discussion table.

"Bulldozing through this issue will not give us a solution which will be accepted by all races.

"So go back to the discussion table and this time the table should have representatives from the Chinese, Indian, Malays, Sabah and Sarawak," Sekat national secretary Arun Doraisamy (above) said at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

The second objective of the congress, he said, is to explore the Jawi issue more thoroughly as many people do not truly understand why there is a protest against the introduction of Jawi as a compulsory subject.

Arun also stressed Sekat's congress, which is meant to complement Dong Jiao Zong's congress on Dec 28, is a multi-ethnic event.

Sekat had, several months ago, threatened to stop vernacular school pupils from attending classes to protest the teaching of Jawi khat (calligraphy).

The congress, he said, will feature six speakers who will delve into the Jawi issue in depth.

"This is because we felt the issue of Jawi is not a racial one, but a national issue which must be discussed and addressed together.

"We will discuss the matter in a more academic and united way," Arun said.

He also said he expects about 400 people to attend the closed-door event and that they also intend to invite Education Minister Maszlee Malik to attend.

The group has also notified the authorities, though Arun said a closed-door event does not require permits from the authorities.

Previously, Dong Jiao Zong had said it would be organising a congress on Dec 28 to protest the latest teaching guidelines by the Education Ministry for Jawi script lessons.

The aim of the congress is to convince the government to cancel the lessons in vernacular schools.

The new guidelines are to allow parents to decide if such lessons can be introduced in schools. The lessons will proceed if more than half of all parents agree to it.

Dong Jiao Zong disagrees with this, on grounds that it will ruin the relationship among parents from different ethnicities who send their children to vernacular schools, especially the Chinese language ones.

It insists that the schools' board of governors ought to have a say in the decision to implement Jawi script lessons, which are slated to begin from next year for Standard Four pupils. - Mkini

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