Mujahid Invites Lim Lip Eng To Exhibition To Understand Importance Of Khat

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KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa has invited Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng to visit Pameran Raja Kita at the Royal Museum in order to appreciate the importance of the Jawi script in the nation's history
Lim had criticised the introduction of the Jawi script or khat calligraphy for pupils in a Facebook post on Saturday (Aug 3)
The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department said although he did not see Lim's now-deleted Facebook post,Jawi was a means used by the nation to communicate with the outside world
"Maybe we can invite the MP to the Pameran Raja Kita to visit and appreciate (Jawi)
"All means of communication including the declaration (of Independence) and correspondence as well as the speech to congratulate Queen Elizabeth were written in the beautiful Jawi script
"The Jawi script is part of our history and when we plan to introduce it in schools, it is not to be included in the exams, but merely to increase the knowledge of Jawi in order for us to relate it to our nation's history
"In this Malaysia Baru aspiration,we don't want to identify ourselves as any race but as Bangsa Malaysia,and Jawi should be seen as part of history that we should preserve," he told reporters after the Pameran Raja Kita launch at the Royal Museum here on Monday (Aug 5)
The exhibition which will end on Nov 5 is held in conjunction with the installation ceremony of the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong,Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah
Mujahid was asked to respond to Lim's now-deleted Facebook post in which the latter allegedly said: "While education ministers in our neighbouring countries are planning to introduce computer programming language (coding) to their young students,let us not rub cow manure on our faces by introducing khat. Please."However, five hours later, Lim deleted the post following brickbats from social media users
Mujahid said he did not understand why the issue of Jawi script had become such a problem, adding that those who were dissatisfied should look at the nation's history
"They need to come to this exhibition, which revolves around the history of our country from the Istana era,where everything was written in Jawi
"It will be unfortunate for our children to not know what is Jawi and lose it as part of our heritage
"If he (Lim) knew,he would not write (the post). We need to look at it from the big picture. The heritage of khat calligraphy is not just for fun, but also for the appreciation of our history," said Mujahid
The Education Ministry recently announced its plan to implement the art of writing in the Jawi script for primary school pupils
The syllabus is planned to start next year as part of the Year 4 Bahasa Melayu subject, although students will not be tested on their skill in writing khat.- Star

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