Dr Mah defends Chinese community's stance on khat in schools

PETALING JAYA: The Chinese community's protectiveness over the vernacular school system should not be mistaken as demeaning khat, says MCA deputy president Dr Mah Hang Soon (pic).

“In recent days, the Chinese community has found ourselves standing out to defend the identity of Chinese vernacular schools.

“We merely aim to safeguard the academic freedom of our schools as provided by the Federal Constitution, and do not have the slightest intention to demean khat, ” he said in a statement Wednesday (Aug 7).

Dr Mah said that the issue should not be seen as a dispute between Muslims and non-Muslims, as it had never crossed the minds of the Chinese community to denigrate the Jawi calligraphy art.

“Earlier, the Dong Zong and Jiao Zong had also held a joint press conference to dispel any misinformation about their stance on khat - to caution against hasty implementation of new education policies.

“Please understand and empathise that Chinese vernacular schools constantly have it rough since the independence of our nation.

“Hence, we tend to be extra-protective over our education system. In other words, there is no reason to doubt the intentions of the Dong Jiao Zong, ” he said.

Dong Zong is the United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia while Jiao Zong is the United Chinese School Teachers Association of Malaysia.

The educationist groups had on Monday (Aug 5) called on the government to defer the teaching of khat as part of the Bahasa Melayu subject for Year Four pupils from 2020 until all matters have been clarified.

Dr Mah also questioned if the khat issue was intentionally created by the Pakatan Harapan government as a way to “spark controversies and divert the people’s attention from other issues”, such as the broken promises, economic slowdown and undirected development.

He said DAP should stop trying to evade responsibilities and give the Chinese community “adequate assurances and some peace of mind.”

“After all, anyone would find it tricky to accept big and abrupt changes, and to many, the introduction of khat is a major syllabus change, triggering uneasiness within the community, ” he said.

Together with the Chinese community, he also noted that MCA’s resolve to safeguard the quality of the vernacular school system is “clear as ice and strong as steel.”

“(Let us) not let irresponsible parties slander and lie their way into convincing anyone that we repudiate khat, ” he added.