Joint Statement Made by Dong Zong and Jiao Zong
December 6, 2019
Jawi Script Committee Denounced for Confusing Public Opinion
Chinese Communities Should Not Be Misled and Differentiated
A recent post signed by the “Jawi Scripts Committee” inviting the Board of Directors of Selangor state and Kuala Lumpur region primary schools to attend a press release on “Strong Protest against Incorporating Jawi Scripts Learning into National-typed Chinese Primary Schools” has gone viral in social media. The said post accuses Dong Zong of inviting governmental interference on the fights for the sovereign rights of the Board of Directors on Jawi scripts learning, which is, to the “Jawi Scripts Committee”, a compromising act. In response to this unwarranted allegation, Dong Jiao Zong herewith denounces its misleading and untrue nature with this statement.
Dong Jiao Zong reiterates, three consensuses were agreed upon in the expanded joint Meeting between Dong Jiao Zong and Chinese communities on the 24th of November 2019 as follows:
- All parties in the joint meeting were extremely concerned about the development of the Jawi scripts learning implementation and recognised that the status of the Board of Directors of national-typed Chinese primary schools were ignored, and were dissatisfied with the decision of excluding the Board of Directors in the decision making of Jawi scripts learning;
- A memorandum will be forwarded to the Ministry of Education to insist on the sovereign rights of the Board of Directors and request the Ministry of Education to include the Board of Directors to be the decision maker in the Jawi scripts learning matter;
- Dong Jiao Zong urges all the Board of Directors of the member states to hold a meeting to inform their decision to reject the Jawi scripts unit;
Medias and newspapers had reported on the above matter profusely, yet this so called “Jawi Scripts Committee” still made such misleading allegations, notwithstanding the efforts put in by Dong Jiao Zong and seven other associations over these four months to negotiate and discuss with the Ministry of education on the Jawi scripts matter. The efforts paid off partially as the Ministry of Education had conceded and amended the guidelines. This irresponsible act of the “Jawi Scripts Committee” is unaccepted and unfounded.
The three consensuses agreed upon by Dong Zong, Jiao Zong, Merdeka University Berhad, Lim Lian Geok Foundation, Malaysia Chinese Language Council and Persekutuan Persatuan-Persatuan Alumni Sekolah China Malaysia positioned their stance firmly, viz., to safeguard the sovereign rights of the Board of Directors of national-typed Chinese primary schools, and all the Board of Directors would be mobilised to say ‘No’ to the Jawi scripts learning in national-typed Chinese primary schools. On the matter of Jawi scripts learning, Dong Jiao Zong wishes all the Board of Directors of Chinese schools to be discernible between truth and falsehood and do not be misled and differentiated by spreading the fake news, subsequently mislead others.