Joint Statement Made by Dong Zong and Jiao Zong

December 12, 2019

Dong Jiao Zong does not accept, agree with and execute the Jawi Scripts Learning Guidelines imposed by the Ministry of Education; it not only defies the decision made by the cabinet and DSKP, but also disregards the “Education Act 1996” in which sovereign rights were endowed to national-typed Chinese primary schools including other vernacular schools. The parent empowerment to decide on Jawi scripts learning implemented by the Ministry of education not only ruptures the harmonious and amiable relationship of national-typed Chinese primary schools, but also further marginalises the rights of the Board of Directors and Parent Teacher Association. More severely, this to-be-implemented practice will cause the loss of sovereign rights of the Board of Directors towards national-typed Chinese primary schools.

In view of this, the expanded joint meeting between Dong Zong and Jiao Zong held on December 12^th unanimously decided to act responsively to defend the sovereign rights of the Board of Directors and protest against the absurd decision of the Ministry of Education with the following pronouncements:

• Dong Jiao Zong insists that the Board of Directors of national-typed Chinese primary schools owns the decision making rights, the Jawi Scripts Learning Guidelines forwarded to these schools by the Ministry of Education must be withdrawn at once;
• Dong Jiao Zong calls all national typed Chinese primary schools to return the Jawi Scripts Learning Guidelines to the Ministry of Education as a gesture of protest;
• Aiming to unite all the Chinese communities in this country, a nationwide Chinese communities meeting will be held on the 28^th of December to urge the central government to attend to public opinion, viz., to withdraw the Jawi scripts learning intent in both national-typed Chinese and Tamil primary schools; and
• To inform all Board of Directors of the member states to hold a Board of Directors and Parent Teacher Association joint meeting to strongly protest against the implementation of Jawi scripts learning, as well as to collect signatures and stamps for petition.

Joint Statement Made by Dong Zong and Jiao Zong

December 6, 2019

Jawi Script Committee Denounced for Confusing Public Opinion

Chinese Communities Should Not Be Misled and Differentiated

A recent post signed by the “Jawi Scripts Committee” inviting the Board of Directors of Selangor state and Kuala Lumpur region primary schools to attend a press release on “Strong Protest against Incorporating Jawi Scripts Learning into National-typed Chinese Primary Schools” has gone viral in social media. The said post accuses Dong Zong of inviting governmental interference on the fights for the sovereign rights of the Board of Directors on Jawi scripts learning, which is, to the “Jawi Scripts Committee”, a compromising act. In response to this unwarranted allegation, Dong Jiao Zong herewith denounces its misleading and untrue nature with this statement.

Dong Jiao Zong reiterates, three consensuses were agreed upon in the expanded joint Meeting between Dong Jiao Zong and Chinese communities on the 24^th of November 2019 as follows:

• All parties in the joint meeting were extremely concerned about the development of the Jawi scripts learning implementation and recognised that the status of the Board of Directors of national-typed Chinese primary schools were ignored, and were dissatisfied with the decision of excluding the Board of Directors in the decision making of Jawi scripts learning;
• A memorandum will be forwarded to the Ministry of Education to insist on the sovereign rights of the Board of Directors and request the Ministry of Education to include the Board of Directors to be the decision maker in the Jawi scripts learning matter;
• Dong Jiao Zong urges all the Board of Directors of the member states to hold a meeting to inform their decision to reject the Jawi scripts unit;

Medias and newspapers had reported on the above matter profusely, yet this so called “Jawi Scripts Committee” still made such misleading allegations, notwithstanding the efforts put in by Dong Jiao Zong and seven other associations over these four months to negotiate and discuss with the Ministry of education on the Jawi scripts matter. The efforts paid off partially as the Ministry of Education had conceded and amended the guidelines. This irresponsible act of the “Jawi Scripts Committee” is unaccepted and unfounded.

The three consensuses agreed upon by Dong Zong, Jiao Zong, Merdeka University Berhad, Lim Lian Geok Foundation, Malaysia Chinese Language Council and Persekutuan Persatuan-Persatuan Alumni Sekolah China Malaysia positioned their stance firmly, viz., to safeguard the sovereign rights of the Board of Directors of national-typed Chinese primary schools, and all the Board of Directors would be mobilised to say ‘No’ to the Jawi scripts learning in national-typed Chinese primary schools. On the matter of Jawi scripts learning, Dong Jiao Zong wishes all the Board of Directors of Chinese schools to be discernible between truth and falsehood and do not be misled and differentiated by spreading the fake news, subsequently mislead others.

Joint Statement made by Dong Zong and Jiao Zong

1^st December 2019

In response to the allegation from the Ministry of Education stating that Dong Jiao Zong only notified the Ministry of Education one hour prior to the submission of its memorandum, Dong Jiao Zong herewith rectifies that it is not the true fact.

In the morning of 28^th November 2019, when the chairman of both Dong Zong and Jiao Zong decided to personally present the memorandum to the Ministry of Education at 3.00 pm the next day (29^th November 2019), immediately they submitted a notification to an official of the Ministry of Education through WhatsApp together with a phone call to make the appointment. Unfortunately, no reply was received from the official. However, in the morning of 29^th November 2019, Dong Jiao Zong still persistently strove to reach out to the official of the Education Ministry through various ways and finally received a reply at 1.58 pm. The reply informed that the office would arrange a reception for Dong Jiao Zong. But there was no mention in the reply from the official pointing out whether 3.00 pm on the day was an appropriate time. Attributed to this, it was taken that both parties had agreed upon the time, viz., 3.00 pm (November 29, 2019), to submit and collect the memorandum.

In fact, official from the Ministry of Education Secretary office informed that they had arranged an official to attend to delegates from Dong Jiao Zong, but this official was unavailable at the last minute without leaving a word so eventually it led to this dubiety. All this proves that Dong Jiao Zong had requested for an appointment in advance, and the Ministry of Education had known about it. Thus, it is fair to conclude that the incident emerged because of the internal coordination of the Ministry of Education. As such, reports on the media saying that Dong Jiao Zong did not make any appointment in advance to the Ministry of Education was unfounded.

Anyhow, it is significant just yet that the Ministry of Education had received a memorandum from Dong Jiao Zong, and Dong Jiao Zong urges the Ministry of Education to see to it as soon as possible.

Joint Statement Made by Dong Zong and Jiao Zong

29th October 2019

The Federal Constitution Guarantees the Establishment of Chinese and Tamil Vernacular Schools

Rights of the Minority Ethnic Groups Should Be Preserved

Malaysia Mighty Bumiputera Party (Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia ) vice president Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz has filed a notice, in his personal capacity, to challenge the establishment of vernacular schools under the Education Act 1996 has contravened the Federal Constitution. In this regard, Dong Zong and Jiao Zong wish to respond in the following statement :

The Dong Jiao Zong educationist group wish to stress that Malaysia is a multi-ethnic society consists of a variety of culture, languages and religions. The country has developed an education system with institutions adopting different languages as their respective medium of instruction. Amongst them, the Malay, Chinese and Tamil medium schools possessed history that can be traced as far back as nearly 200 years since their first establishment. As a diverse society like Malaysia, the vernacular schools are of valuable assets and advantages that contribute to the country’s growth and development.

The vernacular schools have existed long before Malaysia’s independence and they are guaranteed under Article 152 of the Federal Constitution. These schools are also part of the national education system and regulatory frameworks. Over the years, the establishment of vernacular schools is permitted under the Education Ordinance introduced in 1920, Education Ordinance 1952, the Education Act 1957, 1961 and 1996. Political leaders have also repeatedly acknowledged the contributions of vernacular schools. All parents in various ethnic groups have a right to choose the kind of education for their children. These are undeniable facts that cannot be twisted, and should not be destroyed by any individual or organisation. No one should be deprived of the right in choosing vernacular school systems as education of choice, nor leveraging on this issue as an attempt to undermine social harmony.

Dong Jiao Zong has appointed a legal team to study the court case on vernacular schools and will have a meeting with major Chinese organisations on Nov 9 to deliberate the next course of actions.

Statement Made by Dong Zong

October 18, 2019

Retaliation on Two Graduates Was Uncalled for

University of Malaya Should Observe Freedom of Speech

Regarding the action taken by the University of Malaya to its two protesting graduates–Wong Yan Ke and Edan Kon Hua En, Dong Zong believes it is obviously a suppressive act towards dissenting voices, which essentially goes against the spirit of tertiary education.  Therefore, Dong Zong calls upon the university administration to withdraw the penalty imposed on the two students.

It is a norm that universities should uphold the spirit of academic freedom by providing the freedom of speech or expression to their extant professors and students. It is the responsibility of universities to ensure freedom of thought, to encourage independent thinking and tolerate dissenting positions within campus, while not suppressing views or penalising advocacies. The act of carrying protest placard onstage is protected by the International Bill of Human Rights and permitted in peaceful resistance. It is a common practice in campuses across democratic countries.  However, only those educated authoritarian bureaucrats view it as an act of scourge.

The University of Malaya is recognised globally for its academic achievements, and as a higher education institution with a free and open collegial atmosphere. However, with the introduction of the enactment of Universities and University Colleges Act 1971, academic freedom and freedom of expression are suppressed. This resulted in the discontinuity in the tradition of such freedom, along with its capability in academic performances. We opine that university belongs to the society at large, and hence the university administration should not be hijacked or overwhelmed by particular factions or societal classes. Notwithstanding there are some public opinion and criticism deeming the students’ act inappropriate, this should not obscure the real issues, viz., the true spirit of university is to promote open-mindedness, freedom of speech and academic freedom. In this regard, we urge the Vice Chancellor of the University of Malaya to retreat his retaliation on the two students; concurrently, the government should review the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 right away, in bid to enable public university to be free of political factions, ideological and short term benefits resulted from the intertwined business and political interests, thus to ensure these education institutions genuine sovereign right while guaranteeing the spirit of autonomy in academic freedom.

Joint Statement Made by Dong Zong and Jiao Zong

October 17,  2019

The Education Ministry had recently introduced a revised Curriculum Standard and Assessment Document（DSKP）for Year Four Bahasa Melayu subject to make it official that Jawi calligraphy would not be evaluated and assessed in examination. Further, the Ministry added that this would be implemented only with the consent of the Parent-Teacher Association, parents and students. In this regard, Dong Zong and Jiao Zong expressed their concern over the implementation of Jawi calligraphy teaching in national-typed Chinese and Tamil primary schools through the following statements:

1. Dong Jiao Zong herewith informed, a consensus decision was made in recent joint meeting with various Chinese community NGOs, urging the government to empower the Board of Directors of national-typed Chinese and Tamil primary schools in deciding whether to profess Jawi calligraphy in these schools, as a gesture to respect the fiduciary duty of the Board of Directors. In fact, during a meeting with the Deputy Education Minister YB Teo Nie Ching on 21^st August 2019, Dong Jiao Zong and various Chinese community NGOs had clearly stated their hope for the Ministry to take appropriate action to resolve the issue of Jawi calligraphy teaching in the said schools.

2. On 15^th October 2019, Dong Jiao Zong forwarded a letter requesting the Deputy Education Minister YB Teo Nie Ching to schedule a meeting within this month, aiming to discuss the issue of Jawi calligraphy teaching in Year Four Bahasa Melayu coursebook for national-typed Chinese and Tamil primary schools, including the sovereign rights of the Board of Directors of these schools. In view of the urgency and seriousness of the issue, Dong Jiao Zong urges YB Teo Nie Ching to arrange the mentioned meeting as soon as possible, thus to update stakeholders on the progress and to stage a discussion regarding the sovereign rights of the Board of Directors of these schools, in a bid to safeguard the unique characteristics of Chinese schools.