Cancelled Jawi congress organisers slam police for obtaining court order
The organisers of the cancelled Jawi conference slammed the police's action for obtaining a court injunction to stop the congress, which was to be held today.
Dong Zong chairperson Tan Tai Kim (photo), who read out a statement on behalf of the 17 groups who had planned to organise the Chinese Organisations Joint Conference, said they were very unhappy with the police’s action.
"We emphasise that the freedom of assembly and expression are the right of the people as enshrined in the Federal Constitution," said Tan..
- Updated to include Tan Tai Kim's additional quotes.
The organisers of the cancelled Jawi conference slammed the police action for obtaining a court injunction to stop the congress which was to be held today.
Dong Zong chairperson Tan Tai Kim (above), who read out a statement on behalf of the 17 groups who had planned to organise the "Chinese Organisations Joint Conference", said they were very unhappy with the police action.
"We emphasise that freedom of assembly and expression are the rights of the people as enshrined in the Federal Constitution," said Tan.
"The police should act against the individuals and groups who threatened to disrupt the conference.
"This is supposed to be the responsibility of the police instead of abusing the legal procedures to oppress those who abide by the law.
"This is as though (the police) are abandoning the rule of law and indulging those who (continue) to instigate and threaten," he said.
"The (cancelled) conference is being called for by the Chinese and Indian communities to publicly respond to the introduction Jawi script (for Year Four pupils)," said Tan.
"(We advocated) dialogue over protest. This public activity which meant to collectively monitor controversial public policy was supported by the Chinese community and would be participated in by Indian NGOs and Malay scholars," added Tan.
Besides advocating a moderate and rational stand, he said the organisers also urged the participants to take part in the conference peacefully.
"As such, (we) shouldn't be likened to a public assembly that would instigate racial conflict and split (the community)," he said.
As of yesterday, a total 1,118 schools and NGOs had decided to take part in the cancelled conference.
Meanwhile, Tan said the groups will not be attending the conference by the Seni Khat Action Team (Sekat) in Petaling Jaya tomorrow.
He said this after conducting a two-hour meeting among the 17 Chinese educationist groups and NGOs at a restaurant in Kajang, three kilometres away from the New Era University College, the venue for the aborted congress.
He said while the groups respected the court order to call off the conference, they held an emergency meeting at 1pm today to discuss follow-up action.
Tan clarified that today's meeting was only attended by representatives from the 17 NGOs while 1,000 invitees had been expected for the cancelled conference.
Yesterday, Dong Jiao Zong was forced to call off its conference on Jawi lessons in vernacular schools after police secured a court injunction, citing security concerns.
Kajang magistrate Syahrul Sazly Mohd Sain granted the restriction order after ruling that there would be a breach of the peace if the meeting was allowed to proceed.
A counter-rally by Malay rights NGOs to protest the congress was also cancelled. Among the groups that were expected to participate were Angkatan Gerak Minda Malaysia (Agra), Perkasa and Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung (GPMS).
Dong Jiao Zong's intent to organise the conference was in a bid to push for Chinese schools boards to be the decision-makers on whether students in vernacular schools should learn Jawi under the Bahasa Malaysia syllabus.
At present, the decision lies with parent-teacher associations and parents.
Report this comment
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
This action cannot be undone.