I fully agree with the founding president of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), Tunku Zain Al-Abidin Muhriz that failure to teach history properly has enabled others to invent a past that threatens national unity in Malaysia today.
Speaking at the opening of a forum organised by IDEAS yesterday to commemorate the 111 birthday of Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Zain said there were too few references to Malaysia’s own history in charting the vision for the future of the country.
“Which is why I keep saying they should be made compulsory reading in schools, instead of the lamentable textbooks that I have seen,” he said, adding that the biggest ignorance of all was that of our own history.
Tunku Zain also said that the proper teaching of history in schools would provide the tools for critical thinking so that young Malaysians could consider conflicting pieces of evidence and come to their own conclusions, a skill, he added, which would make them better citizens.
“When a young Malaysian grows up without meeting or interacting with a fellow citizen of a different ethnic or religious background, the problem multiplies in urgency.
“If unchecked, this phenomenon will split our country apart,” he warned.
Malaysian history today is just Umno/BN history instead of the real history of the country.
In Sabah, for instance, Sabah students are ignorant of the three most historic events in the state in the past 50 years.
We can differ as to what are the three most historic events in Sabah in the last 50 years of Sabah forming Malaysia, but they are all not in the school history books.
My choice of the three most historic events in Sabah in the last 50 years are:
1. 20-Points and Batu Sumpah Keningau;
2. The ‘666’ tragedy of 1976 which changed the course of history, not only in Sabah but also in Malaysia; and
3. Million illegal immigrants who were unlawfully and unconstitutionally given citizenship/voter status through illegal scams like Project Mahathir, undermining Sabah and Malaysia.
What are your three most historic events in the 50-year history of Sabah in Malaysia – but whatever they are, they will not be in the school history books for Malaysian history in the schools have become a “brain-washing” tool by the powers-that-be to indoctrinate and mislead the young generation of Malaysians about the true history of the country.
(Speech at the Pakatan Rakyat Chinese New Year Open House in Kota Kinabalu on Sunday, 9th February 2014 at 11 am)
#1 by good coolie on Sunday, 9 February 2014 - 7:52 pm
Who are the three most important people in Malayan (Peninsular) history? Well, they are Ahmad, Ah Chong and Ramasamy. As for the tuan, he went back to England; and the present tuan of ketuanan fame was non-existent then. He was fished out of the air, just yesterday, by political villains.
#2 by tak tahan on Sunday, 9 February 2014 - 10:33 pm
So why now only bring out this issue ? What happen to the RCI inquiry about the project M ?
#3 by sheriff singh on Monday, 10 February 2014 - 12:58 pm
Surely there are other ‘minor’ events that changed Sabah’s direction? Like –
1. Tun Mustapha’s sometime autocratic rule that included mass conversions, gerrymandering and the oppression of segments of the population that resulted in changes to the government?
2. The entry of UMNO and its divisive policies into the state’s political scene and the neutralising of some state politicians? This included the ‘invasion’ of large numbers of West Malaysians into the state’s administration which some locals see as the colonisation of their state by the ‘orang-orang semenanjong’.
3. The ceding of Labuan to the Federal Government at the whim and fancy of the State government especially the Chief Minister without a referendum?
#4 by sheriff singh on Monday, 10 February 2014 - 12:59 pm
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Surely there are other ‘minor’ events that changed Sabah’s direction? Like –
1. Tun Mustapha’s sometime autocratic rule that included ma$s conversions, gerrymandering and the oppression of segments of the population that resulted in changes to the government?
2. The entry of UMNO and its divisive policies into the state’s political scene and the neutralising of some state politicians? This included the ‘invasion’ of large numbers of West Malaysians into the state’s administration which some locals see as the colonisation of their state by the ‘orang-orang semenanjong’.
3. The ceding of Labuan to the Federal Government at the whim and fancy of the State government especially the Chief Minister without a referendum?
#5 by Bigjoe on Monday, 10 February 2014 - 1:44 pm
The reason I sent all my children abroad to study from an early age was because I read the history books they use in naional schools. Its so full of nonsense and propaganda that burdens our children rather than real lessons of history in constructing ideas for the future of this country.
What is the use of reading about how the white people were unjust but not really the technology and progress they brought? What really good about reading about some Malay rebel that achieved little but rebel? What good it does to call Chin Peng a communist but not make our children think about why socialist principles are so too idealistic? What good is it to teach exaggeration of UMNO role in independence but do not also make aware that we were so lucky in so many ways and the incredible ideals that was proposed and we have failed today??
History not as a means to an end especially of just a small group of hating supremacist, but for thinking about the future that is best for our children in globalized world they have to compete in..