16 Jul 2006Abdul Razak Ahmad
Do our history textbooks need to be reviewed? Some experts think so. They’re seeing errors, omissions and not enough emphasis on certain communities — signs that the story of Malaysia is veering off course. But is it? ABDUL RAZAK AHMAD finds out.
Experts have pressed for caution when discussing any perceived imbalance in history textbooks.
Ranjit says more is needed on Chinese and Indian migration
Jayum says he finds disheart- ening facts in texbooks
ASK schoolchildren today about Yap Ah Loy, Sybil Karthigesu and Gurchan Singh and the likely response could well be blank stares.
The reason: These three historical figures have been erased from Malaysian school history textbooks.
Yap played a big role in developing Kuala Lumpur in the late 19th century. Gurchan and Karthigesu resisted the Japanese occupation of Malaya.
They used to get some mention. But they were gradually removed from the Form 1 to Form 5 texts.
Their omissions are part of what some experts worry could be the gradual diminution of contributions made by non-Malay communities.
There are now suggestions for a review to get the story of Malaysia back on its proper track, so it can remain a story to which every citizen, regardless of race or religion, can relate.
Is a review necessary?
"Malaysia was and still is a melting pot of various races, but the contribution of the Chinese and Indian communities in the socio-economic development of our country is downplayed in our current history textbooks," says Dr Ranjit Singh Malhi, an author of history books.
Ranjit is a facts consultant for the current Form 3 History textbook and the author of the current Form 6 General Studies textbook.
Apart from the "disappearance" of specific historical figures, Ranjit says current school history textbooks should also include more on the Chinese and Indian migration to and adoption of Malaya as their country.
"In the initial stages, the communities’ loyalties were towards their country of origin.
"But the texts also need to tell of how they began shifting their allegiance to this country, and how we all now feel that we have a stake in Malaysia."
The concerns also prompted a Barisan Nasional lawmaker to raise the issue in Parliament in March.
Kelana Jaya MP Loh Seng Kok said history teachers and parents had come to him concerned about what they found — and did not find — in the textbooks.
"We don’t object to increasing content. But we shouldn’t omit facts and information about the civilisations and history of the various cultures and backgrounds of Malaysians, especially if we want to create greater understanding among ourselves," said Loh.
If Ranjit and Loh have a case, then it’s one with a bearing on Malaysia’s oft-repeated aspiration of creating a Bangsa Malaysia.
Historian Dr Paul Kratoska, who taught at Universiti Sains Malaysia, says the textbooks used to emphasise a plural society, where each group maintained its own social and cultural identity and met others only in the marketplace.
But the emphasis shifted. The texts now make a clear push for Bangsa Malaysia — a national culture and society integrating a variety of traditions.
"This approach has benefits in promoting national solidarity, but can only be effective if all Malaysians are able to identify with Bangsa Malaysia," he says.
Other experts, however, such as anthropologist Professor Dr Wan Zawawi Ibrahim, caution against any "group specific" approach when asking for a review.
Zawawi, deputy director of the Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, says any call for "fairness" needs to take into account the perspectives of all the communities, not just the "dominant three" — Malay, Chinese and Indian.
"So if you want to include more historical figures in our textbooks, then you also have to look at all the minority communities like the Penan, Kelabit, Kadazan and Orang Asli.
"They too have a role in the making of Malaysia," says Zawawi.
Ethnic-relations expert Professor Jayum Jawan concurs.
"Overall, the content is good, but as I read through the textbooks, I found some disheartening things."Jayum says some key contributions made by historical figures from Sabah and Sarawak were either not mentioned, or summarily given "a line or two".
"All communities contributed to Malaysia. Our history textbooks need to be able to create this sense of shared belonging," says Jayum, a Universiti Putra Malaysia professor of politics and government, who helped draw up the syllabus for "Ethnic Relations", a recently mandated course for all public university undergraduates.
A call for review must therefore be approached very delicately.
In Malaysia, with its multitude of ethnic communities, one can inadvertently end up "stirring a hornet’s nest", as Wan Zawawi put it.
"Because when you cater to one group’s demands, another will ask: ‘What about me?’"
Wan Zawawi says that due to the country’s diversity, any review would need to bring together all the different interpretations of Malaysia’s history from the viewpoints of all the communities.
It needs to be a long-term collective effort, involving not just historians but spokespersons from the communities, scholars as well as leading "Malaysianists" — those from outside who study the country’s history.
"Any review must therefore be collective, consultative and knowledge-based, not based on emotion.
"You can’t just complain and then appoint one or two people and tell them our textbooks are weak in this area and please make necessary additions," says Wan Zawawi.
For political science lecturer Dr Mohamed Mustafa Ishak, calls for review must take into account another reality: that Malaysian history is, among others, rooted in an explanation of how and why the country reached the social contract agreed upon by all races at Independence and the formation of Malaysia.
"Yes, there are some uncomfortable things put in and left out of the textbooks, but it’s so that we gain an understanding of why, for example, our Constitution is written as it was, why there was emphasis on certain things and not others.
"Like it or not, the history of multiculturalism, per se, only properly developed from the 19th century.
"You cannot deny that our history goes back well before that, to the history of the Malay sultanates, which explains the emphasis given to it in the textbooks," says Mustafa, who teaches at Universiti Utara Malaysia.
Universiti Malaya’s Professor Emeritus Datuk Khoo Kay Kim also urges caution when discussing any perceived imbalance in the books.
At times, very complex factors shape events involving an ethnic community.
They can’t be forced into neat explanations to satisfy particular groups.
"Questions of ethnic relations in history must therefore be discussed in very neutral language, without saying who is right and who is wrong, or else it sparks off anger and animosity."
"That’s why I don’t like to use the word ‘contribution’, as in ‘the Chinese community’s contribution to Malaysia’," says Khoo.
"I prefer the word ‘role’, because then you can have detached views that do not unnecessarily praise or condemn any group."
Khoo feels that a review is timely. But he wants the aim to be to encourage pupils to look at history from even wider perspectives or, as he puts it, "to look at history in the round".
Khoo’s point is that most history texts today tend to deal with Malaysian society to the exclusion of other important aspects, especially the foreign environment.
"We need to know more about how the outside world impacted this country and how this country has managed its relationship with others."
"No country exists in isolation, and when you give a lopsided perspective of our history, there’s every possibility that it will be misunderstood, because in history you can always influence the student to look at things your way," he says.
Khoo, who sits on the Quality Control Committee for the Form One textbook, believes that history books have a role to play in promoting multi-culturalism.
"History must attempt to explain culture, but our school history books don’t seem to do that," he says.
"As a result, our young people don’t know each other’s cultures.
"Some are good friends, they can lepak with each other, but they still don’t really know each other."
Contested history
THERE are at least 10 factual errors in the current Form 5 textbooks, according to textbook writer Dr Ranjit Singh Malhi. They include:
• The Naning War, 1831-1833 (page 31). Actual date: 1831-1832.
• American War of Independence, 1776 (page 67). Actual date: 1775-1783.
• The All Malaya Council of Joint Action, formed in September 1946 (page 181). Actual date: Dec 22, 1946.
Important contributions of various historical personalities have been removed from the current textbooks. Among them:
• Sybil Karthigesu: She was one of Malaysia’s freedom fighters during the Japanese Occupation. "Even though she was tortured by the Japanese, she did not give up. She was a woman of principle and she had tremendous courage," says Ranjit.
• Gurchan Singh: Popularly known as the "Lion of Malaya", he resisted the Japanese takeover in World War II. He wrote and secretly distributed a newspaper during that period.
• Yap Ah Loy: The third Capitan China of Kuala Lumpur from 1868-1885, Yap played a major role in the development of Kuala Lumpur as a commercial and tin mining centre, particularly after the fire of 1881.
