AUGUST 8 — I fear Cikgu Othman opted for early retirement after trying to fix my Jawi handwriting in primary school. It was a tough beat for him.
So, what’s the writing on the wall for khat or calligraphic Jawi in the Year Four introduction furore, after Malaysians of all walks of life waded into the debate?
Three main observations assist the discourse henceforth from my vantage point; first, the issue conflates because of our unresolved national identity; second, it was gladiatorial from the start therefore the outcome either way means loss of face for many; and third, scant regard is paid to the actual recipients of policy shifts, our public schools’ students.
But there is an upside to the khat fracture lines.
It allows us to speak about public education policies, in particular curriculum adjustments in improving language skills.
But before we get to the substantive parts, here are key responses about khat and the observations outlined above.
Like old couples arguing about whether to leave the kitchen light on or not at night, when in actual fact, the light bulb is a proxy for critical issues they can’t speak about.
The spouses, despite being together almost 62 years, can’t find the honesty nor the language to approach their conflicts. It is the difficult story of Malaysia’s communalism, the invisible lines which separate.
For most non-Muslims, it is most certainly about maximising class time and adopting global trends into our system instead.
But surely, they must admit, hovering over for them is the sense the Malay-majority shoves yet another agenda into their lives. There are serious trust issues and Malaysia Baharu remains flummoxed by it.
They ask, if this now, what’s next? Their insecurity renders every inch to concede precious.
For most Muslims, it is about respecting the calligraphic heritage of the language protected by its limited symbolic existence in the new curriculum — for it’s not tested and fills only six of the 164 pages of the upcoming Year Four textbook.
Yet, the thinking is that if all Malaysians already embrace Malay as the nation’s language should they also have to study the cultural rather than functional components of it, like the underutilised former official script?
Proponents in turn ask, can’t you respect my language?
Which begs the question, respect whose language? Is it not our language? Must a perceived umbrage of Malay accentuate divides among Malay speakers which is all of us, to those who own the language a little bit more than other Malaysians?
It is as well I’m putting this down in a noisy bar in downtown Bangkok, as Thailand is that rare medium nation defending its language and Sanskrit-derived text, come what may. They are convinced their language must remain in its entirety.
The Malaysian story is far different. Jawi developed from the Arabic to write Malay, remained so in importance when interrupted by British rule, only to be rudely shocked in post-colonial Malaysia as the government chose Romanisation rather than persisting with Jawi.
Malaysia did not forego a language, it opted for a different script for the language. Utusan Malaysia relegated Jawi to a weekly decades ago before they eventually ended print. And now restricts Jawi to only an online version — limited content, I imagine translations of the main portal.
Governments, like Thailand, fight to protect their languages, as they should, but realise they are at the mercy of globalisation. But our northern neighbour’s model of both language with script is a tougher scrap.
We chose a middle ground, to leverage the Western alphabet with our eastern language to lower the entry-barrier and sync changes in English. It did turn millions of Malaysians from bazaar speakers of the language to those able to read and write in it.
What can Malaysia do to protect Malay best today? Is Jawi more about proving a point than advancing the use of Malay? Can retention of Malay speakers remain higher by solely relying on the Roman alphabet?
Curriculum for confusion
If khat’s visible in 4 per cent of the Year Four textbook, and it is not tested, would it not be ignored by teachers too?
Educators are measured by results and if the component has no marks attached to it would it not persuade them to bypass it?
It’s a pilot and in time there would be clamour for testing. It’s not good curriculum if there are no means to test comprehension.
There is danger in “do-gooders” offering win-win solutions, like increasing the calligraphy component to include other languages. Because it’s usually the start of a Malaysian solution a la rojak. Appease people, and therefore everyone gets something. It also risks offloading our political expediencies to the schools and their overworked teachers.
When education is about pleasing politicians and not readying millions to contribute to their country, the outcome is premeditated chaos. Kids will rotate from Jawi to Chinese before to Tamil and every other local language in a newly improvised “Malaysian calligraphy appreciation” subject.
Mind you, that’s more art than language.
Malay for all
There are student populations in our schools who are not partial to Malay. It worries.
National coming together is predicated on a common language, and when there are question marks about it then it does not augur well for nation-building.
A friend, with an unquenchable thirst for tattoos, said that the Chinese prioritise Chinese as their identity language and pick up English to compete in the world. Malay, they are not sure what that’s for. He was half-joking, but it does highlight the challenges in promoting Malay as the Malaysian language.
The Malay cause is not going to be lifted massively by the reintroduction of Jawi in our language classes. If anything, it may result in more consternation over it.
It’s unfathomable language proponents rather the presence of Jawi in our classrooms over universal adoption of Malay by most Malaysians. Certainly, the long-term survival of Malay leans on total number of speakers choosing to speak and read in it as opposed to number of Malay speakers who can write in Jawi.
I would be far gladder if more and more of the debate revolved around how all of us can contribute to retain the integrity of the Malay language.
Malaysia’s fate is tied to Malay. I’m entirely sure Jawi does not move the needle to push widespread use of Malay by Malaysians.
Maybe better to give up the battle to win the war. That's a thought.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
