LETTER | I find that our Malaysian news tends to be repetitive when it comes to news about education.

last year it was black shoes and this year, the gun is pointed at khat. The news is noticeably never on issues that truly matter in education, like sustainable education which should be our true goal. 

We are seemingly consumers of “junk news” (much like junk food) in terms of issues in the academic world. 

The fact of the matter is that khat is simply a form of artistic expression which last I checked, is not a tool for religious conversion. 

In fact, I think that schoolchildren would perhaps benefit from some diversion as we are a nation of competitive education - it would be a welcome change in their daily academic ritual. 

We really should refocus our energy onto more insidious religious caricatures like Zakir Naik who is growing in his power and political will in creating and stoking a dangerously divisive fire. 

Malaysia should not be a safe haven for one such as this and we need to stop worrying about Arabic calligraphy.

We should start understanding that someone like Zakir Naik needs to be removed from the Malaysian political sphere as his aim is to divide a united Malaysia.