NST July 20: Educationists, political parties welcome move
Educationists, political parties welcome move
20 Jul 2006Shamini Darshni
KUALA LUMPUR: The decision to end the shelf-life of a controversial university guidebook on ethnic relations was roundly welcomed yesterday.
But the Democratic Action Party (DAP), accused in the book of being the instigators behind the 1969 race riots, was in no mood to let bygones be bygones. It wants the matter investigated by the police as there were seditious elements in the book used by Universiti Putra Malaysia.
The Cabinet yesterday ordered that the book be withdrawn and decided that a panel of historians would put together a more acceptable alternative for the Ethnic Relations course.
Educationist and social activist F.R. Bhupalan said: "It’s great. This shows that our Government has developed a very open, transparent and accountable position, and in future there will be greater attention to the sensitivities of such a book.
"Whatever text we use must be based on a bedrock of understanding, truth and respect, and the proper enunciation of certain historical facts," she said.
Bhupalan hoped that the Ethnic Relations course could be broadened to areas such as unity and understanding,
"If it is only on ethnicity then some may get worried because this can be related to religion. The course must accept that we are multi-religious and multi-cultural," she said.
DAP national chairman Karpal Singh felt that withdrawing the guidebook was not sufficient.
"We cannot just sweep it under the carpet after the Cabinet makes a decision. A criminal offence seems to have been committed," he said.
He noted that the UPM teaching guide had blamed the DAP for the May 13 riots, an allegation which was not factual and clearly seditious.
The Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute’s Centre for Public Policy Studies said that in view of the sensitive nature of the course, there should be more consultation before any textbook is published.
Centre director Dr Lim Teck Ghee said the entire process of preparation and production of guidebooks should be made as transparent as possible,
"Bias and subjectivity, whether political, racial or religious, should be avoided, with the emphasis placed on relevant and correct factual contents," he said.
He added that drafts of guidebooks could be posted on the websites of universities and the Higher Education Ministry so that the public could offer feedback.
He hoped that the Higher Education Ministry and the Education Ministry would learn a valuable lesson from this episode.
The system, he said, should ensure that the curricula and courses taught in schools and universities were historically accurate, fully reflective of the country’s evolving multi-racial character and did not contain propagandistic content or narrow analyses which could distort history.
Dr Zainab Mohd Noor, the dean of the Faculty of Education at Universiti Teknologi Mara, welcomed the move to withdraw the guidebook.
She said that Ethnic Relations as a subject had been thoroughly discussed and had the palm prints of different stakeholders.
"As our country matures and other issues come up, we will review the curriculum," she said.
Zainab said she was all for multi-culturalism, which was the foundation of liberal education for students.
