“If it’s an elective, then it is fine; people are into this kind of fine art.

“There are other things that need to be learnt,” said the former international trade and industry minister.

She was speaking to reporters after her keynote address at Perdana Discourse Series 21, titled “Factors impeding Malaysia’s economic progress and how to overcome them”, at Yayasan Kepimpinan Perdana here today.

Rafidah stressed that khat is not Jawi, a language or a subject, but rather a type of writing, just like Chinese calligraphy.

She said the education ministry should not make learning khat compulsory, but promote it for creativity.

Earlier, in her speech, Rafidah said she texted Education Minister Maszlee Malik regarding her objections on the khat issue following the ministry’s announcement recently that it would include khat in the Year 4 Bahasa Melayu syllabus next year.

“When you force everybody to do calligraphy, I will be the first one to fail. I have no flair for all such artistic work. My fingers don’t answer to my brain.

“We don’t need that kind of talent to be incorporated as a must-do part of the curriculum in schools,” she said.

Rafidah added that it is better to learn a language than calligraphy.

“The education system has become overloaded with all kinds of nonsense over the decades. Don’t overload students with unnecessary, frivolous subjects,” she said.