Anwar: Stop anti-Jawi meet, Malay groups may retaliate
KUALA LUMPUR: PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday urged Chinese education groups, Dong Jiao Zong to call off its anti-Jawi gathering scheduled for Dec 28.
In a statement, Anwar said that the gathering may heat up Malaysia’s political and racial sentiments, which is already volatile.
“Malaysia is a multiracial and multicultural nation, a fact that all Malaysians should feel proud of and respect.
“The priority of the education sector is to improve the quality of education. Therefore, I hope that all parties not to proceed with the plans.
“If Dong Jiao Zong proceeds with their plan, I’m afraid that the pro-Jawi group will hold their own gathering. So I urge everyone to stop all these and return to the discussion table,” he said.
Recently, Dong Jiao Zong announced that it would hold a gathering to protest against the Education Ministry’s decision to proceed with teaching of khat, an Arabic calligraphy, in all schools despite objections.
Last Friday, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had warned that the gathering by Dong Jiao Zong would lead to chaos.
Mahathir said that the Malay community might respond by organising its own congress demanding Putrajaya to shut down Chinese vernacular schools.
“This may only result in Malays having their own congress and talking about closing down Chinese schools and all that. You do that kind of thing, you will get a reaction.
“After all, we are a multiracial country and it is important for us to be considerate about other people’s feelings,” Mahathir was reported saying.
Supporting the premier’s call, Anwar reminded Malaysians that the Jawi script is part of the nation’s cultural heritage and we should be proud of it.
“The Malay language was initially written in the Jawi script. The people must understand that the move was aimed at promoting the cultural heritage among Malaysians.
”As a nation built on various cultural heritage, we must respect and celebrate its diversity.
”At the end, we must strive for quality education for all,” said the Port Dickson MP.
By Fifi Harteeny Marzuki
