Five representatives from the Gabungan NGO Pendidikan dan Ummah spent almost two hours at the Putrajaya district police headquarters having their statements recorded for an alleged offence under the Peaceful Assembly Act (PPA) 2012.
This was related to what occurred during their handing over of a memorandum protesting the Teaching and Learning of English and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) on Feb 7.
According to the NGO’s lawyer Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz, they were not called in for questioning over the memorandum itself but to what happened shortly before that.
The lawyer explained that the NGO representatives had walked from Masjid Putra to the guardhouse at the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya to hand over the memorandum, a walk which purportedly went against the PPA.
“Today (the NGO representatives being called in for questioning) had nothing to do with the content of the memorandum but the issue is walking after Friday prayers from Masjid Putra to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) guardhouse.
“After they finished their Friday prayers, they walked together. Only that is being investigated under the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012,” Khairul told reporters after his clients finished giving their statements.
Among the NGO representatives who were called in included Malaysian Linguistics Association advisor Awang Sariyan and Malaysia National Writers Association (Pena) president Mohamad Saleeh Rahamad.
Linguistics expert Kamal Shukri Abdullah, NGO Gerakan Pembela's (Ummah) Mohd Zai Mustafa and Abolish PPSMI Movement (GMP) chairperson Wan Ramli Wan Daud were also called in for questioning today.
Aside from Khairul Azam, these five individuals were represented by lawyer Mohd Kamarul Arifin Mohd Wafa.
On Feb 7, the NGO coalition had sent in a memorandum to the Prime Minister’s Office to protest the implementation of the PPSMI.
According to Mohd Zai, among the contents of the memorandum is the hope that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad will rethink his wish to bring back the PPSMI initiative.
Aside from five NGOs above, other organisations involved with the memorandum include PAS Siswa, Gabungan Mahasiswa Islam Se-Malaysia (Gamis), GMP, Pena and several others.
Mohd Zai said they gave their full cooperation to the police for their investigation, adding that no other representatives from the NGOs would be called in to give their statement on the matter.
Mahathir, who is also the acting education minister, had recently mooted the idea of bringing back the PPSMI.
Many critics have since voiced out against this, describing PPSMI as a step backwards and not effective in increasing students’ mastery of the English language.
Critics included a number of Pakatan Harapan leaders, many of whom were part of the protests against PPSMI back in 2008. - Mkini
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