KUCHING: Bahasa Malaysia as the national language should be loved and mastered by every Malaysian and elevated as a major unifier instead of Jawi.
This is because by contrast Jawi is just a writing system used for writing the Malay language and several other languages of Southeast Asia such as Acehnese, Banjarese, Kerinci, Minangkabau and Tausūg.
From this perspective, the government’s decision to make Friday a Jawi Day would not unite the multi-racial people of Malaysia, said Gabungan Anak Sarawak (Gasak).
Its pro tem president Bobby William said the national language, therefore, should be elevated way above Jawi as a unifier of Malaysians.
“The insistence on getting primary school pupils to take up Jawi is absurd although we are not against it. We just don’t want our children to be forced to learn it,” he said in a statement over the weekend.
He pointed out that the education system was still a ‘flip flop’ and always changed each time a new minister came in.
“Instead of saying that Jawi is a heritage of our country, we should treat the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) as our heritage,” he said.
Gasak comprises Pergerakan Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB), Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi), Sarawak Workers Party (SWP) and Sarawak for Sarawakians (S4S).
