COMMENT | Many are happy I wrote about khat. Some are angry because I spoke of hegemony and ideology. I spoke of creeping Islamisation. Of how the young gets introduced to a religion that is now badly represented.

Jawi, a Malay writing system, will forever connect me. especially to my beloved mother (bless her soul). She, and a Chinese teacher in my primary school, Wong Seng Kwong, and my religious school in Majidee were my Jawi teachers.

I wrote well in Jawi and in English when I was a kid. I still write Jawi well. Then secondary school made me a different being.

Whenever I think of my mother, I'll write Jawi. Then I play the guitar. Then I listen to my vinyl LPs. Then I water the plants. Then I cook. Then I feed the cats. Then I watch Quentin Tarantino. Then I listen to the singer Herman Tino. Then I write and write. Then I go teach people.

Khat as Islamic art

Here is the difference between Jawi and khat to be taught to all children in Malaysia, Muslims and non-Muslims. Perhaps the Education Ministry will get many non-Muslims introduced to Islam at an early and impressionable age...