CAN MASZLEE SPRING SUCH A SECRET ‘KHAT’ SURPRISE – WITHOUT CABINET GREEN LIGHT? UPSET & UNEASY DAP LEADERS TO MEET ON MONDAY OVER ‘ENFORCED’ JAWI LESSONS – EVEN AS RAIS YATIM TELLS MALAYS TO REJECT ‘ARABISM’ IF THEY WISH TO PRESERVE THEIR OWN CULTURE

DAP is calling all its MPs, assemblypersons and central executive committee members to explain about the plan by Education Ministry to introduce khat writing in the Bahasa Melayu syllabus in Chinese vernacular schools.

The move comes amidst widespread objection from the party’s grassroots over the matter.

Sources told Malaysiakini that the briefing session would be held at DAP headquarters in Jalan Pudu starting at 8pm on Monday (Aug 5).

The meeting, according to one of the sources, will be held as an effort to display the right attitude towards the issue and at the same time quell the uneasiness of DAP members.

Although a notice for the meeting did not specify an agenda, sources, however, believed that the briefing session would discuss the Jawi calligraphy issue, which is a hot topic among the Chinese community in the country.

“Two days ago (Aug 1), DAP MPs received a notice to meet with central leaders, including party veteran Lim Kit Siang and secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

“There was no agenda specified, but I believe this has something to do with the Jawi calligraphy issue,” said the source.

Other sources also shared the same sentiment, saying the matter is now a hotly debated issue among the Chinese community.

Meetings usually issue-based 

A source said DAP members are criticising each other over the matter. Thus, the source added, there is a possibility that its leaders at the central level are trying to cool down matters over the issue.

“It is usual for the central leaders to invite members to come for a dialogue whenever there is a hot current issue.”

However, another source claimed Monday’s meeting is only a normal gathering and not related to any specific issue.

“We always meet every two or three months. The last time a similar gathering like this was held was during the fasting month. This is usual,” said the source.

The Sin Chew Daily recently reported that the Jawi calligraphy khat will be introduced in the Bahasa Melayu curriculum for Standard 4 at the Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools.

Following this report, Tras assemblyperson Chow Yu Hui had led a group of DAP leaders to issue a statement objecting to the new policy.

They claimed the introduction of khat was an attempt to politicise the use of Jawi writing. – MKINI

Reject ‘Arabism’ if we want to preserve Malay culture, says Rais Yatim

Former minister Rais Yatim has called for a cultural struggle to counter the spread of “Arabism” for the sake of preserving Malay culture.

According to a report in Free Malaysia Today, Rais said that not many people would dare to talk about separating Arabs from Islam, but he insisted there was nothing about the region that made it better than the Malay archipelago.

“Saudi Arabia is now killing Yemen. Where is the Islamic culture in that? Who is setting an example for whom? I would like to suggest that Malaysia and Indonesia, in particular, give the world a great example.”

Rais, a former Communications, Information and Culture minister, was speaking at the opening of the International Literature, Language and Culture Nusantara Seminar 2019 at the Langkawi Research Centre yesterday.

“We cannot just talk about language, grammar, syntax and so on but ignore the message about the value of our nations,’ he said.

“We must not allow ourselves to be ‘Arabised’ but we must allow ourselves to be ‘Islamicised’ while keeping our Malay and Malaysian foundations, said Rais, who is a Bersatu supreme council member.

Rais said efforts to preserve Malaysian culture must begin with the national language, and he called on ‘cultural warriors’ to learn from the infiltration of English words into the Malay language.

Citing an example of a book on Malay grammar, Rais said it contained words such as adverb, adjective and morphene.

This sort of thing, he said, had taken root.

“Even if we do not want to ‘cakap orang putih‘ (speak English), the influence has seeped through to our language,” said Rais.

“How to get back to Za’aba?” he said, referring to author Zainal Abidin Ahmad who modernised the Malay language with the publication of a series of grammar books entitled Pelita Bahasa, starting in 1936.

Rais said trying to preserve the Malay language was difficult but worth the effort. – MKINI

MKINI