KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 — Three individuals today failed in their application to challenge the decision of the previous government to introduce khat calligraphy in Bahasa Melayu subject for pupils in national-type Chinese and Tamil schools.

They are former Chinese School Students Association president Tan Kim Sen @ Tan Boon Tak, Persatuan Hindu Agamam Ani Malaysia chairman D. Ravi and R. Visa Letchumy as the applicants, while the respondents are the Education Ministry and government of Malaysia.

Senior Federal Counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly, when contacted, said High Court Judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid had disallowed the leave application for judicial review filed by the applicants in the proceedings held online today.

"The court dismissed the leave application with no order to costs,” he said.

Ahmad Hanir said he had previously argued that the decision challenged by the applicants was in the form of a policy and not suitable to be challenged through judicial review.

"We argued that the previous government introduced the learning of Jawi writing in Bahasa Melayu subject and not khat calligraphy,” he said.

Meanwhile, lawyer T. Gunaseelan, who is representing Visa Letchumy, said he had instructions from his client to file an appeal in the Court of Appeal.

The trio filed the application in May last year, claiming that the previous government’s decision to introduce khat calligraphy to Year Four pupils of national-type Chinese and Tamil schools was against the provisions of the Federal Constitution. — Bernama