NGO Seni Khat Action Team (Sekat) met with acting director-general of education, Habibah Abdul Rahim in Putrajaya today to discuss the implementation of Jawi lessons in vernacular schools.
Sekat, represented by its secretary Arun Doraisamy was joined by the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Jawi Teaching Special Committee (JTSC) coordinator Eddie Heng Hong Chai.
Both of them, accompanied by several members of the groups, spent about 40 minutes at the Education Ministry and finished the meeting at 1pm.
Arun said he was elated with the meeting with Habibah which went smoothly.
"I walk out happy knowing that somebody acknowledged our concerns. We had submitted the resolutions which we approved during yesterday's (National Jawi) congress.
"We discussed the issues on Jawi which we highlighted during the congress... we shared how we can deescalate the situation now.
"We told her that the best approach is the same as what our leaders had taken in the past, which is to have a dialogue. We suggest for a dialogue to be held with multiple parties, including our Malay friends.
"She welcomed the idea," Arun said.
Arun added that both parties agreed that unity would come above everything else.
"We cannot sacrifice our unity on whatever agenda. Dr Habibah, too, agreed that unity will come first.
"I told her we survived (the May 13) 1969, we came out together and gained independence, so now there is no excuse... I call upon all leaders, especially political leaders, to come together and talk," he said.
Resolution
Earlier, before meeting Habibah, Arun said he submitted a resolution and a letter which urged the education ministry to hold a meeting with NGOs of various races to discuss the Jawi issue as soon as possible.
The resolution includes opposing the implementation of Jawi by force without any negotiations, disagreeing that Jawi to be made a compulsory subject to pass and urging for Jawi to be implemented as an elective.
"We want to solve this matter amicably. There's no need to call anyone as racist because we also defending our rights. There must be a sense of Bangsa Malaysia.
"We care about unity. Without unity, Malaysia wouldn't exist. We don't want to give opportunities to those who fan racial and religious sentiments.
"And this (Jawi) is not even a sensitive issue. It is about a subject syllabus. But there are quarters who want to fan racial and religious sentiments with the issue," he said.
Meanwhile, Eddie said the priority now is to have more engagement with Malay groups.
"We came to the forum yesterday in the spirit of 1 Malaysia. Basically, we delivered our voices in total... a series of forum discussions have to be continued.
"I think our priority at this moment is to engage Malay groups... I don't think we are going to have an easy task but we will have combined efforts," he said.
In the pipeline, Arun said that there will be a joint forum with Malay NGOs to discuss Jawi.
"We will organise a joint forum with our saudara Melayu (Malay friends). At the same time, our communication channel is open anytime to anyone with unity in mind," he said.
(More to follow) - Mkini
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