Khat: Hindus Are Not in Favour!

7^th August – Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Malaysia Hindu Sangam expressed its dissatisfaction pertaining to the introduction of Khat writing in the standard 4 Bahasa Melayu (BM) curriculum.  

First of all, Khat should not be part of a compulsory subject like BM although it is said that it will not be tested, then obviously it is a waste of time; since there are so much to cover in the BM lesson itself. Nevertheless, it can be learned as an art subject together with other calligraphy forms like Chinese, Japanese etc. which will also instill creativity among students.

We did not expect such rash act from the present government especially the Ministry of Education which did not discuss the matter with all relevant stake holders as it claims, especially the religious bodies of all religions. It seems only some Tamil education groups were involved in the discussion, if any. But we do not expect the educationists to share the same sentiments as the religious leaders.

We, clearly do not see the need for any Hindu child to learn Khat, whether it is related to Islam or not. Would learning Khat be useful to find a job in future in this country? Would it help the Hindus to come out from poverty? Or would it help to cure the social ills among the Hindu youths?

We would like to ask why till now, there is no time slot within the school hours for us to teach Hinduism to the students. Till now, the government is turning a deaf ear to consider our request to include Hinduism as part of the curriculum for Hindu students. We have to expect students to stay after school hours to learn religion and most of the time it is not allowed within the school premises. Only a small number of students could afford to stay after school. Does the Education Minister know how important it is for a child to get some basics of his or her religion?

We are also totally concerned over the content of the syllabus that will be taught to our students during Khat lesson. On several occasions, we have found words undermining other religions in the school test papers and notes given by teachers. We recall an incident in May this year, in a national school in Shah Alam, where the Standard 6 Moral test papers had a sentence implying “Faith in God” means one must accept Islam. We also have received complains about non-Muslims students being invited to attend Islamic talks not only in schools but also at Higher Learning Institutions.

We are also of the opinion that the Khat lessons will also include reading the Jawi scripts besides writing. This will definitely put our children in the losing end since it will be difficult for them to read compared to Malay student who are exposed to Jawi from the young age of five from their religious class lessons. Those non–Malay students who had to learn Jawi in the 70s’ had gone through tough times being humiliated by teachers and ridiculed by those who can read Jawi. We do not want our children to go through this phase again.

Malaysia Hindu Sangam would like to urge the Ministry of Education to look seriously into having better syllabus to create good values in school children, to respect all religious beliefs/faiths, how to live in peace and harmony, able to connect and tolerate each other’s beliefs and culture, how to create a clean and healthy environment, how to live happily among various ethnics and how to create a conducive nation that will accommodate all its citizen equally. This is what we need our children to learn immediately rather than creating a Khat lesson which will make life difficult for our students either in SK schools or in SJK(T) schools.

Malaysia Hindu Sangam also would like to urge the Ministry of Education to also look seriously into the History syllabus to review the many mistakes in the content of school History books and to include a more inclusive and holistic History syllabus to make our future generation get a more reliable and the real History of our nation Malaysia based on facts. This will truly benefit our future generation who will love the country more and create a beautiful nation to live in.

Malaysia Hindu Sangam also oppose to any attempt of exposure or infiltration of any elements of any religious contents or teachings besides Hinduism to Hindu school students.

On Saturday, 11th August 2019, Malaysia Hindu Sangam is meeting with the Advisory Board and other Hindus organisations on this. All Hindus organisations are invited to join this discussion.