Guan Eng: Sin Chew Jit Poh raised Chinese fears over khat
KUALA LUMPUR: Chinese daily, Sin Chew Jit Poh was blamed for the opposition of the Chinese community against the introduction of Jawi writing, known as khat.
DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng took to Facebook last night in accusing the Chinese newspaper which first broke the news on the government’s plan to introduce six pages of khat in Bahasa Melayu subject for Standard Four students on Aug 4.
“On my return home after four days overseas, I was faced with the unhappiness of the non-Malay community following Sin Chew Jit Poh’s report that the Standard 4 Bahasa Malaysia textbook in Chinese and Tamil schools would include seni khat,” said Lim who is also Finance Minister.
“Even though seni khat or Jawi is the source of the language of Bahasa Malaysia, the news report has successfully raised fears that the character and identity of the Chinese and Tamil schools will be affected,” Lim said in a post on Facebook post while attending a heated meeting with DAP elected representatives at the party headquarters last night.
The introduction of khat would also be implemented in vernacular schools.
Last night’s meeting saw DAP reps split over the issue as the top leaders were for khat and grassroot leaders against it.
