Students fed with 'skewed' history, say textbook writers

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian students are being fed with a skewed version of our history, said two academicians who are contributors to history text books.

In a report by free morning paperThe Sun, Ranjit Singh Malhi and Ng How Kuen said history books were contaminated with factual errors and distortion to promote political interests.

Ranjit, author of secondary school history textbooks since 1990 and adviser to the Ministry of Education, claimed he had been labelled "anti national" for pointing out to officials about errors and distortions in the textbooks.

“Secondary school history textbooks have been used to promote political interests. It should be a scholarly pursuit and not politically-motivated,” the paper quoted Ranjit as saying.

Ranjit lamented that Form Four history textbook contents had been changed to focus more on Islamic history, consisting of five chapters as opposed to one chapter in the earlier textbook.

Saying the earlier syllabus was to expose students to world history, Ranjit said personalities such Yap Ah Loy, who was instrumental in the opening of Kuala Lumpur, freedom fighters Gurchan Singh and Sybil Karthigesu, who resisted the Japanese occupation of Malaya, were not given due recognition.

According to him, the most glaring bias can be seen in the textbook's narration about the downfall of the Malay sultanate of Malacca.

"The 1996 Form One textbook stated inter alia that a few Indian merchants lent their junks to the Portuguese in their attack on Malacca. I know of no historical evidence to support this fact,” said Ranjit.

“Six Chinese captains agreed to lend their junks to the Portuguese due to their hatred for Sultan Mahmud who had earlier detained them and their men to help attack Aru. The Portuguese used only one junk provided by one of the Chinese,” he said.

'Wrong foot'

The Ministry of Education had recently announced plans to make History a must-pass subject in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination, citing lack of knowledge among the youth in the country's past.

Ranjit however said the government was on the wrong foot.

"It is not right to assume that students will study history seriously and will be more patriotic after clearly understanding the Federal Constitution and the social contract.

“Patriotism thrives when citizens have a ‘sense of belonging’ and perceive themselves being treated equitably,” he said.

Another writer Ng How Kuen charged that the government’s decision to make history a compulsory subject would force people to accept only a single version of a historical event, or "risk failing the entire examination".

“We always had to follow the curriculum given by the MOE and therefore the ruling parties have the upper hand in defining our history,” he said, adding that history books should be written by historians and not teachers as the latter were bound by the curriculum set by the ministry.