History textbook review long overdue 
Malaysiakini
Oct  3, 2006
Fauwaz Abdul Aziz

Nation-building and the teaching of ‘true’ history in schools are often at odds, said former academic Kassim Ahmad. 

However, this conflict can be resolved by taking a broader view of Malaysia’s history and a longer perspective of where it begins.

While British colonial interests determined that the beginnings of history lie in their arrival, post-Merdeka writers have only slightly improved on it by pegging those beginnings to 15th century Malacca, Kassim said when contacted today.

The Chinese and Indians had for centuries been part of Malaysia’s demography not only since the time of the Malacca Sultanate, but hundreds of years earlier in the days of the Srivijaya empire.

“To find out our history is part of discovering the roots of our nation. When you see how long our history is and you are placed along that line of development, then you’ll feel a sense of belonging,” he said.

“This will go a long way to remoulding the various communities into one nation.”

Kassim was commenting on what he described as a recurring debate in Penang, revolving around who should be credited with having founded the island. While the British claim that it was Francis Light, recent claims have emerged surrounding a certain Datuk Jannaton from Minangkabau.

Universiti Sains Malaysia senior history lecturer Dr Mahani Musa had earlier said a Datuk Keramat could have initiated a settlement on the island in 1705, or 44 years before Jannaton.

‘Don’t distort history’

Regardless of who had actually founded the island, said Kassim, history should not be distorted or manipulated for political interests.

Kassim had been quoted by The Star yesterday as having called for a revision of history textbooks as these are currently riddled “with lies, prejudice and twisted facts”.

Backing his call was Universiti Malaya (UM) associate professor of history Aruna Gopinath, who said the standard textbooks for secondary schools contain “a lot of racial overtones, are very biased, and (which do) not give the true history of Malaysia”.

“It’s about time that the (literary and linguistic authorities) Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka does something about this. We are a multi-ethnic society, and we should be giving the right picture,” she said.

She cited long-standing complaints pertaining to the absence in history books of references to Kapitan China Yap Ah Loy - credited with founding Kuala Lumpur - as well as the involvement of Chinese and Indian resistence against British colonialism.

Prominent UM history lecturer, Professor Emeritus Dr Khoo Kay Kim, said much of what is taught in school is overly political.

He said history is the record of “so many things, not just politics”.

“History also contains the development of law, economics, social development, even urban development. Yet, none of these things are taught (in the textbooks),” he said.