KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 — PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has labelled opponents to teaching khat art to standard four students as descendants or proxies of British colonialists, amid sweeping claims that the move was part of a broader “Islamisation” attempt.

The Marang MP, in a critical statement posted on his Facebook page this morning, described the rejection of the policy as continuation of the British campaign to wipe out Islamic culture and traditions in local customs.

He claimed this was part of a systematic effort to “impose” Western democracy and political secularism that was part of an alleged conspiracy to eradicate Islam and its followers.

“You must realise that the invaders carried out an agenda to eliminate the jawi script as part of its colonial campaign and its enmity toward Islam and its followers,” Hadi said.

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“Any effort to rejuvenate the jawi script is noble and pure and reflect one’s own sense of faith and identity.

“It is so obvious that people who oppose it (jawi) are the descendants or proxies of the colonial masters, even though the Western colonialists are said to have left.”

Hadi then noted that former Singapore prime minister and founding father, the late Lee Kuan Yew, as well as DAP leader Tan Seng Giaw were both able to read and write in jawi, a reflection of the script’s heritage and importance in local polity.

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“This showed the jawi script has a place in politics, economy and society,” the PAS president remarked.

The Education Ministry’s plan to introduce khat, a form of Arabic-Malay calligraphy, as part of the national language syllabus for standard four students sparked strong reactions from mostly minority communities, many of whom saw the move as a subliminal attempt at “Islamisation”.

News portal Free Malaysia Today reported last night that up to 35,000 angry Pakatan Harapan supporters, mostly ethnic Chinese, had flooded the Facebook pages of DAP leaders to vent against the policy and threatened to vote the party out in the next general election.

A DAP MP told Malay Mail on Sunday that there is simmering tension within the party ranks, and that many are perturbed by the national leaderships’ “silence” over the issue.

Last night, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng conceded that minority communities are alarmed by the government’s move to introduce khat in vernacular schools.

DAP, while positioning itself as a multi-racial party, is predominantly Chinese. The party is expected to explain its position on the policy later today.

In his statement today, the PAS president reminded anti-khat protesters that jawi was the script the country’s founding fathers used to disseminate the cause for Independence. His scathing reminder was also directed to Malays who oppose the study of jawi in schools.

“Do not be that Malay who forgets that many of the old agreements signed with the British like the Pangkor Agreement, and all official state letters during the colonial period were written in jawi,” Hadi wrote.

“Even the pawnshop owned by Chinese used jawi.”