KUCHING, Aug 13: The federal government should be looking at the concerns raised by Dong Zong, instead of having Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad labelling them as ‘racist’.
Sarawak Patriots Association (SPA) president Datuk John Lau expressed concern with Dr Mahathir’s recent remark, calling it unfounded and uncalled for.
“SPA hopes that the federal government will have dialogue sessions with Dong Zong (United Chinese School Committees Association and other NGOs,” he said in a statement.
According to Lau, Dong Zong was reported to have organised a petition to oppose the teaching of khat (Jawi calligraphy) for Year 4 students starting 2020.
“It (Dong Zong) has reasons of doing it as they are very concerns of the standard of English, Chinese and Tamil in our current school systems.
“Their focus group discussion with students found that there are many students who are struggling with Bahasa Malaysia. To divert students from mastering common used language such as English, Chinese, Tamil and Malay to focus on learning something different may not be timely at this stage,” he said.
SPA called on the federal government to focus on the real national issue, which is the economy.
“Please spend time and energy to improve our economy and Malaysians in the B40 and M40 group who are crying for help.” — DayakDaily
