Khat controversy underscores mistrust

Artistic: An example of a Jawi writing worksheet. — Bernama

Trust issues ingrained for decades need to be addressed by the Pakatan Harapan government.

“DO you trust me?”

Iron Man asks Captain America this crucial question just as they are about to head into a battle together in Avengers: Endgame.

Steve Rogers simply says “I do” to Tony Stark, before giving him a firm handshake.

Fans will know there was a lot of bad blood between the two superheroes over several previous movies. However, they overcame their differences and came together in Endgame – something that could not have happened without trust.

It is trust that remains an issue between Chinese education groups and the government, particularly the Education Ministry. This, to analysts, is the main cause for the opposition towards the teaching of khat.

It is a deeply ingrained mistrust that has its roots in the 1960s, beginning during the Alliance government period and continuing into the Barisan Nasional era.

Recently, the Education Ministry announced that it wanted to introduce khat in the Year Four Bahasa Melayu syllabus for vernacular schools.

This instantly drew strong opposition among those who champion and support vernacular education.

How much do people know about khat? Not much really. Some say it is linked to Islam, others say it is just Arabic calligraphy – a form of artistic writing or art.

From the outset, the Education Ministry did not explain clearly about the plan and what khat is. Most who oppose its introduction into the curriculum see it as linked to religion. They fear the learning of khat could be the first step towards the Islamisation of vernacular schools.

Like in previous controversial issues, there was no dialogue and consultation before the decision was made.

What is the objective of teaching khat? Who proposed it? How will it benefit the pupils and the nation? Is it suitable? All these elements have not been clearly spelled out.

Even Chinese-based and Indian-based political parties in the Pakatan Harapan coalition were not aware of it until Chinese newspaper Sin Chew Daily broke the news.

During the SJKC Chung Hua school building launch dinner in Klang in late July, deputy Defence Minister Liew Chin Tong blamed the outburst of the khat issue on the daily’s national front page report, which was based on information from teachers.

However, he also said it was due to a lack of mutual trust and the little understanding of other cultures among the people, following decades of divide-and-rule that have caused the issue to blow out of proportion.

To be sure, vernacular education has not had it easy for the past 60 years, often facing extinction. In fact, each time there is a debate about national unity, Chinese medium schools become an easy target for people with political agenda.

They often face calls for closure, even though about 100, 000 Malays study in Chinese schools.

Chinese education groups headed by Dong Jiao Zong have faced many similar situations like the khat issue in the past. Hence, they are often on guard against any new plan by the Education Ministry.

In fact, many Chinese still cannot forgive Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for causing racial tension in 1987 when he was the Education Minister under the previous government’s rule. He approved the plan to send non-Mandarin speaking teachers to Chinese primary schools as assistant school heads. This caused the MCA, DAP and Chinese guilds to join hands to oppose the move, which was supported by Umno and other Malay groups.

With Umno, MCA, DAP and Dong Jiao Zong holding big rallies, racial tensions flared up. For the first time since the May 13 incident in 1969, many people felt multiracial Malaysia was unsafe.

This gave then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad a good political opportunity to crack down on government critics, Opposition politicians and educationists.

This was when Operation Lalang was put into motion, during which over 100 people were arrested and detained without trial.

In fact, paranoia has caused Dong Jiao Zong and other Chinese groups to see an ulterior motive in all Education Ministry’s plans that affect Chinese schools.

In 2003, when Dr Mahathir introduced the teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) in schools, it also created apprehension.

But in this case, some Malay groups also opposed to the move. Hence, it could not be manipulated into a major race issue. However, it did anger Dr Mahathir, who recently labelled Dong Zong as “racist” in the khat issue.

PPSMI was eventually phased out in 2012 and was replaced by another policy.

While the previous Barisan government could not be trusted not to use the race card, what about the current Pakatan Harapan administration?

The khat issue has proven that the Chinese community has to continue to be vigilant.

Since coming to power after the general election on May 9, 2018, the Pakatan government has done little to engage with the Chinese community.

When DAP’s Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng slashed the annual RM30mil matching grant for MCA-owned Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC) in Budget 2019 last November, he signalled politics could override community interest.

As TAR UC has provided affordable tertiary education to the poorer segment of society, Lim’s move – seen as targeting the MCA for political revenge – undermined Chinese confidence in DAP.

Pakatan’s delay in honouring their election promise to recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) of independent Chinese secondary schools has also been a cause for the gradual loss of faith in the present government.

With the khat issue, although the Cabinet has further modified the plan, the fear of Islamisation has not subsided.

While it seems that khat will be taught next year despite lingering misgivings, it is high time for the Pakatan government to address the trust deficit among the people.- Star