The Chinese educationist group sent a memorandum to the ministry’s acting director-general Habibah Abdul Rahim just hours before former education minister Maszlee Malik announced he was resigning on Jan 2. This issue was among the biggest controversies during Maszlee’s 20 months at the helm of the ministry.

“Since Dong Jiao Zong presented the memorandum to the ministry of education along with other Chinese groups on Jan 2, we have been taking various initiatives – including contacting the ruling party, opposition and education ministry – to have dialogues and to find a way to solve this issue,” the Dong Jiao Zong said in a statement today.

The education group also said it regretted it was not able to attend a separate dialogue organised by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P Waytha Moorthy on Jan 7.

Dong Zong said they only got the invitation on the day of the meeting and thought that the meeting would be a continuation of previous discussions as the invitation did not include any agenda.

“We were meeting Muslim groups on the same day, and due to the lack of time and the above mentioned issues, we regret we were unable to attend the meeting with the minister,” it added.

Only 12 groups were invited, and Jiao Zong – one of the two component parties in the Dong Zong coalition – and other Malay organisations were not included.

“We appreciate the minister’s efforts to find a solution to this issue,” said Dong Zong.

Dong Zong planned a congress on Dec 28 to discuss the teaching of Jawi in vernacular schools as part of the Bahasa Melayu syllabus. However, they were forced to call it off on Dec 27 after police obtained a court order to cancel the congress following threats of retaliation from Malay associations and NGOs.