Council to organise forum to discuss Jawi issue

PETALING JAYA: The Majlis Perundingan Melayu (MPM) or Malay Consultative Council will be organising an open forum of their own to discuss the Jawi issue, says MPM representative Ellie Suriati Omar.

She announced this during a forum on Jawi organised by a group made up of representatives from the vernacular schools board of governors and Parent-Teacher Associations, namely the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Jawi Teaching Special Committee (JTSC) and Seni Khat Action Team (Sekat).

MPM is a consultative council set up to defend Malay rights and Islam.

Ellie, who is also the chairperson of a Malay NGO called Semangat Gelombang Rakyat Malaysia, said the forum by MPM would also invite representatives from yesterday’s National Jawi Congress, such as Sekat national secretary Arun Doraisamy.

She said the forum aimed to clear up any misunderstanding between the groups over the introduction of Jawi in vernacular schools.

“It is important for us because we are also championing the issue of Jawi, so it is vital for us to listen to the views of others.

“We came to the National Jawi Congress today (yesterday) to hear their views; we did not come to provoke, ” she told reporters after the congress which was held at a hotel here.

Ellie said the MPM open forum would be beneficial to find common ground on the Jawi issue, and hoped that all parties could reach an amicable resolution on the matter.

The date of the forum would be announced later, she added.

Earlier, Arun, one of the congress organisers, said in his opening speech that protesters would be given room to speak at the congress.

Last Friday, the police obtained a court order to bar a separate forum planned in Kajang the following day by Chinese education group Dong Jiao Zong to discuss the implementation of the Jawi calligraphy module in vernacular schools.