History textbooks must reflect diversity: Liow
Published on: Monday, August 17, 2015
Kuala Lumpur: School history textbooks must reflect the cultural elements of all races in Malaysia, said MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai."The diversity of our multicultural society should be accurately portrayed in our children's school books," he said.He added that the textbooks should not only contain "Islamic culture".
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Liow said that MCA would fight to ensure that history textbooks reflect the "full and unbiased history" of Malaysia."History must not be changed even if political powers do," he said, adding that attempts by certain parties to twist historical facts were "unacceptable". He also said that a Tun Tan Cheng Lock Research Centre would be set up at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman to study and compile the history of the Malaysian Chinese in Malaysia.Liow revealed that the Government would undertake to build a Tun Tan Cheng Lock Memorial to display the cultural history of all races in Malaysia."The memorial will serve to strengthen racial unity in Malaysia," he said during a seminar on Malaysian Chinese cultural development held at Wisma MCA yesterday.
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Historian Dr Ranjit Singh Malhi said there were at least five factual errors in the current Standard Five History textbook first published in 2014."What disturbs me most is the glaring bias towards glorifying one particular ethnic group and religion whilst downplaying the role of the other ethnic groups and religions, a continuing trend which started in the 1990s," part of his letter read.
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He added that the textbook also greatly downplayed the role of Yap Ah Loy in developing Kuala Lumpur."All historians worth their salt will admit that Yap Ah Loy was primarily responsible for rebuilding Kuala Lumpur after the Selangor Civil War," he added.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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