YOURSAY | ‘Syed Saddiq, are you expecting parents to accept whatever Education Ministry is proposing?’

Minister labels groups 'bodoh sombong' for threatening school boycott

Kita Orangbiasa: Youth Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, according to you, "A child’s education is not up for bargain." Are you expecting we parents to accept whatever the Education Ministry is proposing?

Don't you believe our future generation should be equipped with the appropriate knowledge where they can face future global challenges?

Learning an extra language is welcomed but not at the expense of limiting time for other important subjects. The child has set number of hours in school and we parents need to ensure they get the best of these hours.

We send our children to school for a purpose and we parents are also stakeholders and our views must be looked into.

Calling us ‘bodoh sombong’ (foolishly arrogant) is very irresponsible and more so coming from a minister like you. A minister should have the capability to reason things out rationally.

I hope you will have a better explanation when you meet your voters because they are the ones who put you where you are now.

Quigonbond: Syed Saddiq doesn't even know why people are planning to boycott classes and he is already calling people names.

Maybe people are just struggling with the decision whether to send their kids to a Jawi class, or an additional class on maths and science, basic coding or play badminton or soccer. After all, there's only so much a kid can absorb or do in a day.

Doing this could be politically good for him - showing he is more Malay and Muslim than others, but this makes me want to write him off as future national leadership material because he's playing the same old racial politics.

Vijay47: Ahh! Blessed are we that the youthful minister has returned to lead us out of this abyss of ignorance we are trapped in. “A child’s education is not up for bargain.” How profound, how poetically philosophical from one so tender in age! Even Shakespeare could not have said it better.

Tell me, good sir, were these priceless gems of infinite wisdom gleaned as you sat rapt in reverential attention at the feet of Muslim preacher Zakir Naik, our prime minister-in-waiting?

We are now asked to be comforted by the explanation from you, Education Minister Maszlee Malik, and fellow engineers of Islamisation through schools that the penmanship study subject is not khat but Jawi, those silly boys at the ministry had made a silly mistake.

And in any case, you hasten to assure us, Jawi or khat by whatever name called would entail only three pages. Pray tell us, if “only three pages”, why insist on continuing with this surreptitious introduction?

Is it the norm for any new subject to begin with “only three pages”? Going by the standards our education system displays, I would be inclined to think so.

We would not be disturbed if a fresh field is to be explored in school, it may only serve to broaden our outlook; even acting would be welcome, a talent you excel in.

But when it comes to Jawi, every strand of suspicion would be aroused, after all, your colleague Maszlee did admit that schools must be the “medan dakwah”.

How sure can we be that after a brief spell of innocent teaching, Jawi would not subtly shift with the cunning introduction of Muslim elements?

You want to go the whole nine yards and teach Islam? Sure, feel free to go ahead. But keep it restricted to only Muslim students.

I trust you had a most satisfying dinner the other night, an event which you gleefully flaunted to all of us. I equally hope you and your exalted guest did not have any untoward results the next morning. But we, alas, continue to suffer from what the good doctor prescribed.

Gerard Lourdesamy: Syed Saddiq, your meeting with Zakir Naik despite an ongoing police investigation into him was not ‘bodoh sombong’?

The next time a suspect is under investigation by the police, I will advise him or her to meet as many ministers and deputy ministers as possible. This was the same crap that happened to the accuser in Anwar's Sodomy 2 case under BN. So how is Pakatan Harapan any different?

If Zakir Naik is so indispensable to the Muslims in this country, why not allow the non-Muslims to organise a public forum on the flaws and fallacies of Islam and invite prominent Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and Jewish speakers to speak on the topic while making “unintended” offensive remarks about Islam and the Malay race?

Will the Malays and Muslims accept that with an open heart and mind? Comparative religions cannot be a one-way discourse in any country that claims to be a democracy.

Wira: There is no need to stop sending kids to school. Just boycott classes for those three pages if parents are uncomfortable. You don't cut your nose to spite your face.

Bear that in mind that there is a large presence of Malays in some Chinese vernacular schools.

Those students should be entitled to the optional Jawi classes.

Anonymous_8a8199e7: I do agree with Syed Saddiq. Why disturb the kids’ schooling when Jawi only takes up less than an hour of total timetable?

Didn't the ministry already say if PTA (parent and teacher association) and parents do not agree, it will not be taught?

Veritas: What a joke. The Malay political class has messed up public education very badly.

Non-Malays used to go to national schools because they were good. After the deliberately created mess in education, many non-Malays opted for the vernacular schools, including Malays sending their kids to Chinese schools for a better education.

Then came separate streams for Malays - matrikulasi, Mara, etc, etc. More incoherence, inconsistency, and divisiveness. Who the hell is responsible for "education is being held at ransom and used as a bargaining tool"?

This young man needs to make Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad happy for his own ambitions. We understand all this, but he shouldn't run people down. Isn't he supposed to be a very forgiving person, or is his moral compass a bargaining tool?

Babylon: A child’s education is not up for bargain,” said Syed Saddiq. You are right, and I will decide on what my child studies because he is my child, not yours.

Get an education yourself before trying to teach people how to suck eggs. I know best for my child because God gave him to me. Comprende (understand)?

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