Former Umno Youth leader Razlan Rafii (photo) has questioned the DAP group for objecting the plan to introduce khat in the Year 4 Bahasa Malaysia curriculum for vernacular schools.
Razlan said the objection should not surface as the Jawi calligraphy art has been around for a long time and used even before the country's independence in 1957.
"Jawi has been used in official plaques and agreements for a long time.
"Khat has little to do with Islam but rather about reading the Malay language in a form of Jawi writing," he told Malaysiakini.
Recently, a joint statement by 138 branches and parliamentary liaison committees, 14 DAP Youth and grassroots leaders, as well as 13 state assemblypersons, urged DAP cabinet members to oppose the proposal.
The proposal was mooted by the Education Minister Maszlee Malik last week.
However, Keranji assemblyperson Chong Zhemin and Jelapang assemblyperson Cheah Pou Hian withdrew their objection to allow DAP and the ministry to review the issue.
Razlan said the move to form a group to oppose the proposal is like "declaring a war against the Malays."
"It should not happen. As we know, the education ministry had held discussions with assemblypersons and MPs on khat, and the majority of them agreed to the proposal.
"So I advise this group to not bring up their anti-Malay and anti-Malay culture attitude," he said.
Razlan said the group should have a better understanding and work with the government to help it spread the calligraphy art instead of opposing it.
In a statement on Aug 2, the DAP group said vernacular school students are learning "three languages and three writing systems" at present.
"We do not disagree that khat has artistic value, but people should be encouraged to appreciate it on their own and not made into policy," said the group.
The group claimed that the introduction of khat was an attempt to institutionalise and politicise the Jawi script.
Last week, the Education Ministry explained that the introduction of khat was to foster beautiful writing.
The ministry stressed that the subject matter did not pertain to Jawi scripts and students were not assessed on it in examinations.
Of the 162 pages for the Bahasa Malaysia textbook, six pages will be dedicated to khat.
The ministry is adamant to proceed with the proposal amid objections from certain parties. - Mkini
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