KUCHING, Aug 7 — Sarawak Baru (SB), a coalition of three local parties, urged the Education Ministry to heed the strong objections to the introduction of Khat or Jawi calligraphy as part of the Bahasa Melayu subject for Year 4 pupils starting next year.

“There are many angry reactions circulating in social media, especially from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and citizen groups, and talks in public places, against the introduction of khat,” a spokesman said in a statement.

He added that many of the comments were personal in nature against Education Minister Mazslee Malik and the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government.

He said SB that includes Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS), State Reform Party (STAR) and Sarawak Workers Party (SWP) was not opposing khat but asking why it was included as part of the BM subject and made compulsory.

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He said it should be studied as an art subject or taught as a leisure pursuit.

He said instead of compelling the students to study khat, they should be given the choice to learn more about languages such as English and Mandarin or about science and technology, which will enable them to compete with international communities.

With this development, SB also urged the state government to be serious about regaining autonomy over education.

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“We wants Sarawakians especially the youngsters to have a better chance if education autonomy in our hands.

“We can easily adopt education modules and policies from world’s best education system like Norway and Singapore without Putrajaya intervention,” he said.

He said the Khat issue showed that the current education policy in national schools has failed, claiming that many ministers sent their children to international schools.