By Dorcas Ting
KUCHING, Sept 21: The High Court today fixed October 5 for counsel Dominique Ng Kim Ho’s application for leave to be granted for his client to file judicial review for a Certiorari Order be issued by the Court to annul and/or quash the decision of the Malaysian Ministry of Education to teach Khat, a compulsory subject in Standard 4.
High Court Judge Alexander Siew How Wai also fixed Oct 7 to hear the case.
Ng, who is also Sarawak Association for Peoples’ Aspiration (SAPA) president, is representing a father of a standard 4 student to file the application for judicial review in August 18 against the Minister of Education and the government of Malaysia.
“This is an issue of constitutional importance and a non-justiciable issue as this is the decision of the Ministry of Education Malaysia and this is of public interest, he said after the hearing of the case in Kuching High Court.
He said teaching of Khat or Jawi calligraphy in Bahasa Melayu subject infringed Article 12 of the Federal Constitution which in Article 12(3) says, “No person shall be required to receive instruction in or to take part in any ceremony or act of worship of a religion other than his own.”
He added according to the Standard Curriculum Documents for Standard 4 Bahasa Melayu in both Sekolah Kebangsaan and Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan, it stated that under the aspect of language art, that a student must understand and master the art of the language. -DayakDaily
