KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 26 — Dong Jiao Zong said today that it will cooperate with the police to ensure the safety of the Chinese Organisations Joint Conference this Saturday, amid threats from some Malay-Muslim groups.
Malaysiakini reported the Chinese educationist alliance again urging attendees to refrain from bringing placards and banners into the meeting to prevent any provocation, and insisted that no political parties have been invited to attend the event.
“We have communicated with the police, and our working team is also well prepared,” Dong Zong president Tan Tai Kim was reported as saying.
Attendees have also been told to take public transport instead, or arrive at the New Era College in Kajang early.
“The roads [nearby the venue] are quite narrow, and there will be traffic congestion.”
“[...] I hope the participants will express their views in a rational way,” he was quoted as saying.
Tan said around 1,000 people will attend the event, from representatives of school boards, parent-teachers associations and alumni associations, to those from the Malay and ethnic Indian communities.
He said this included Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, UCSI lecturer Tajuddin Rasdi, Tamil Foundation’s K. Arumugam and a Sabah representative from pro-moderation group G25.
“Dong Jiao Zong hopes to collect opinions from all parties, and inform the government of our stance to include school boards as one of the decision-makers on this matter,” he said, referring to the teaching of the jawi script in vernacular schools.
The organisation’s refusal to heed advice that it cancel its conference has caused concern that tension could escalate, as more conservative and hardline Muslim groups threaten reprisals.
Several police reports have also reportedly been lodged against the event and its organiser.
But some PAS leaders have expressed their readiness to hold a dialogue with Dong Jiao Zong together with Barisan Nasional component member, MCA, in a bid to defuse tension and seek an amicable solution.
