HISTORY : WE CANNOT HIDE THE TRUTH

Factual gaps and biases

September 25, 2011 : THOSE of a certain generation may be familiar with Gurchan Singh, the “Lion of Malaya”.

One of the most famous Malayan freedom fighters during the Japanese Occupation, Gurchan wrote and secretly distributed a newspaper to rally people during the dangerous times.

According to local historian Dr Ranjit Singh Malhi, Gurchan's wartime exploits were contained in a textbook, Heroes of Malaya, which was widely used in Malayan schools in the 1950s.

“Our first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, was among those who grieved at Gurchan's death in 1965 and personally offered condolences to his family,” he says.

Dr Ranjit: ‘The content of post-1990 history textbook (right) is not well-balanced and objective, compared with the older textbook (left).’

Another resistance fighter against the Japanese was Sybil Karthigesu, who with her husband treated wounded guerillas of the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army in Perak. A courageous woman of principle, she did not give up her fight even after being severely tortured by the Japanese.

Dr Ranjit points out that while the Form Three History textbook highlights the role of the Malay Regiment and Lieutenant Adnan in defending Malaya against the Japanese, the contributions of the non-Malays are not mentioned.

Historians, parents and concerned citizens have long complained about the “one-sidedness” of our secondary school history textbooks in its representation of the country's history, since the curriculum was reviewed in 1996.

According to Dr Lim Teck Ghee, spokesperson for the Campaign for a Truly Malaysian History, there are factual gaps as well as serious biases.

“The textbooks used at the secondary level have many shortcomings in content and analysis,” he says.

He highlights that in the effort to build up a national history, important world events and other world civilisations have been omitted, hampering young Malaysians' ability to take an open approach to history.

“There is a tendency to minimise the role of other civilisations, especially the role of the British and the West in Malaysian and world history,” he says.

While much has been said recently on the omission of the role of other factions in the struggle of Malaya for independence, the downplaying of the roles of the non-Malays in the economic and social development of our nation in our history school textbooks is also an issue.

Dr Ranjit points out that the previous textbooks used to mention adequately the contribution of the Chinese and the Indians in the development of the tin mining and rubber industries, for instance.

“Now, it is given scant attention. We talk about a sense of belonging and loyalty to the country, but how can we have that when the contributions of our communities are not acknowledged? The government needs to do something about it,” urges Dr Ranjit.

Another problem, highlights Dr Lim, is a peninsula-oriented approach, which fails to give due recognition to the East Malaysian contribution to Malaysian history.

This has been highlighted by the Sarawak Teacher's Union (STU), which is currently lobbying the Education Ministry for a review of the way the formation of Malaysia is being presented in the school textbook.

STU president William Ghani Bina says it is important to clearly and correctly highlight the point to enable our young to understand the history of the country better.

“It is a basic historical fact about our country how Malaysia came into existence but it is not dealt with in depth in our textbooks. We need to stress it and make it one of the important topics in the syllabus, with proper analysis of why Malaysia was formed and the implications.

“I attended a seminar once where an academic said, It is lucky that Sarawak joined Malaysia.'

“That is wrong, there was no Malaysia for Sarawak to join; Malaysia did not exist before 1963.

“In another incident, when I had to go to Kuala Lumpur for a meeting, someone from the Education Ministry even greeted me with, William, when did you come to Malaysia?'”

Another aspect that needs to be reviewed, he opines, is the history of the people of Sabah and Sarawak.

“Although some history of Sabah and Sarawak is in our textbooks, I feel it is still not enough.

“For example, the struggle of the anti-colonist movement here is not emphasised as much as that of the struggle in peninsular Malaysia.

“We need to have a Malaysian history that is balanced if we are to forge unity among the younger generation,” he says.

Dr Ranjit concurs, stressing that the Education Ministry needs to objectively relook our history textbook to include the contributions of all the other communities in making this country what it is now, if they are to foster greater unity, loyalty and patriotism among the young.

“The sooner the government does it, the better. The young now are more transparent and have more access to the resources and outside world; we cannot hide the truth,” he says.

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Syllabus used to teach English in schools 'oudated'

"We are still using the same traditional method that had been in use since I was in school.

"Proficiency in English should be made an important part of their training, besides a critical factor in the assessment of their competency."

Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (Melta) president Associate Professor Dr Ganakumaran Subramaniam