FUKUOKA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has expressed surprise at the outbursts over news of the introduction of khat in the Year Four syllabus next year.
He said the matter had actually been decided in 2012 and the topic was included in a school textbook.
“Khat will be taught as an arts subject. Calligraphy. This was decided by the then government in 2012. I do not know why it is an issue now.
“Nobody made noise back then. This is no different than what was (discussed) before.”
Dr Mahathir said he suspected that certain quarters, including politicians and a newspaper were attempting to use the issue to drive DAP into a corner.
“They just want to test DAP. If DAP agrees with the implementation, they will say DAP is being controlled. If otherwise, they will say DAP is controlling the government.”