Sin Chew Daily

There seems to be no sign the increasingly intense controversy over the teaching of Jawi calligraphy at vernacular primary schools will abate any time soon.

Prior to this, Dong Jiao Zong announced that it would hold a national congress of Chinese organisations on December 28 to urge the government to cancel the teaching of Jawi calligraphy at Chinese and Tamil primary schools.

On the past Sunday, the KL-Selangor special committee on Jawi organised an event in protest of the government’s decision to incorporate Seni Khat into the BM curriculum for Chinese and Tamil primary schools in KL and Selangor. The event saw the participation of some 320 representatives from 130 Chinese primary schools and 41 Tamil primary schools in Klang Valley.

The committee has also resolved to bring the case to court in near future to oppose to the implementation of Jawi teaching at the schools and challenge the government’s decision to force students to learn Jawi on a simple majority.

The development of this incident will not do the society any good but will create more confrontation and conflicts. It is therefore imperative for the government to do something wise and positive to mitigate the controversy and resolve the issue soonest.

At this juncture, the positions of the government as well as the local Chinese educationists remain unwavering across the divide without a reasonable platform for both sides to sit down and talk about the issue amicably with the objective of striking a common understanding.

The government reiterates that it will be only an introduction to Jawi calligraphy and that it is impossible for any student to learn the language in just a couple of pages. However, the local Chinese community is more worried about the destiny of the country’s Chinese primary schools, fearing that the three pages of Jawi will open the flood gates to more drastic measures to come.

The government has failed to adopt a more proactive stance in handling the concerns of the Chinese community and allay their fears. Instead, it has come up with a set of guidelines that only serve to raise more doubts and aggravate the controversy further.

By right the feelings and aspirations of the Malaysian Chinese community, being an integral part of the nation, ought to be given due attention and not completely overlooked.

As an elected government, the government has the obligation to listen to the views of the people and try to understand how the Chinese community looks at this thing in an attempt to establish consensus on the basis of mutual understanding.

In a democratic society, rational dialogue and in-depth discussion should be the most civilised way of resolving a dispute. Unfortunately, the education ministry has so far not called for a meeting on this matter nor have a frank dialogue with relevant Chinese educational bodies.

How can we have mutual understanding and consensus without a dialogue or interaction?

A new academic year is about to begin very soon and we cannot allow the Jawi controversy to drag on infinitely. The authorities must seize the little time left to resolve the dispute with wisdom.

There are still many areas that need to be reformed where the national education policy is concerned, and we cannot afford to let these three pages of Jawi to bog down the progress of reform.

The government must show some sincerity by having candid talks with the relevant parties with the objective of striking an agreement on this matter and put a definite end to this whole controversy, so that our educational reforms can move ahead.