Abstract
Ting examines controversies concerning history textbooks in Malaysia that have surfaced since the beginning of the 1980s, with particular emphasis on the current edition published since 2000. The role of left-wing movements during the independence struggle and the ‘Malay-indigene’ versus ‘non-Malay-immigrant’ debates are reflective of the larger context of ethnic politics in the country. Ting discusses the constitution provision known as the ‘Special Position of the Malays’, the role of Kapitan Yap Ah Loy, the concept of ‘ketuanan Melayu’ and their ramifications on educational policy and current debates. Whether the efficacy of recent attempts to integrate the diversity of narratives into the historical processes that led to Malaysian independence will have any future impact remains to be seen.
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Notes
- 1.
The current edition of history textbooks is being replaced progressively with a new edition, starting from the Form 1 cohort in 2017.
- 2.
B. K. Cheah, ‘Writing Indigenous History in Malaysia: A Survey on Approaches and Problems’, Crossroads 10, no. 2 (1997): 33–81; here, 59–61.
- 3.
Ibid., 62.
- 4.
H. Ting, ‘The Politics of National Identity in West Malaysia: Continued Mutation or Critical Transition?’, Southeast Asian Studies 47, no. 1 (2009): 31–51.
- 5.
This issue continues to be raised whenever debates over history textbooks resurface, such as currently by Ranjit Singh Malhi, a well-known veteran history textbook writer, in an article entitled ‘Malaysian History Textbooks’ published on 30 September 2017 in the Malay Mail Online, in reaction to a rather Malay-centric assertion of historical perspective as the only legitimate one by Arof Ishak entitled ‘Do not tinker with discipline [sic] of history’ in the New Straits Times on 17 September 2017 (see https://www.nst.com.my/opinion/letters/2017/09/280628/do-not-tinker-discipline-history and http://www.themalaymailonline.com/what-you-think/article/malaysian-history-textbooks-ranjit-singh-malhi#IH5kXlt1xcVLMIOf.97.
- 6.
B. K. Cheah, ‘Ethnicity, Politics, and History Textbook Controversies in Malaysia’, American Asian Review XXI, no. 4 (2003): 229–252; here, 245.
- 7.
S. A. Carstens, ‘Dancing Lions and Disappearing History: The National Culture Debates and Chinese Malaysian Culture’. In Histories, Cultures, Identities: Studies in Malaysian Chinese Worlds, ed. S. A. Carstens (Singapore: National University of Singapore Press, 2005), 144–176; here, 153.
- 8.
Cheah, ‘Ethnicity, Politics, and History Textbook Controversies’, 244. While Yap Ah Loy was still included in the revised textbook, his name disappeared altogether from the 1996 edition of the Form 2 history textbook, whereas Raja Abdullah’s role was briefly mentioned. His photograph appeared again in the 2003 edition of the Form 2 textbook, in which he was described as ‘one among others who developed Kuala Lumpur’ without any further discussion of his role, while Raja Abdullah was described as having ‘pioneered’ tin mining activities in the area. See Carstens, ‘Dancing Lions and Disappearing History’, 153.
- 9.
Carstens, ‘Dancing Lions and Disappearing History’, 144.
- 10.
CMCS (Centre for Malaysian Chinese Studies) and Nantah (Nanyang University Alumni Association of Malaya), Perbincangan Tentang Sukatan Pelajaran dan Buku Teks Sejarah Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan [Discussions on national secondary school history syllabus and textbooks] (Kuala Lumpur: CMCS & Nantah, 2001), 6. Unless otherwise specified, all translations my own.
- 11.
Cheah, ‘Ethnicity, Politics, and History Textbook Controversies’, 248.
- 12.
Ibid., 247.
- 13.
Cheah, ‘Writing Indigenous History in Malaysia’, 66.
- 14.
Ibid.; Cheah, ‘Ethnicity, Politics, and History Textbook Controversies’.
- 15.
R. Santhiram, ‘Curriculum Materials for National Integration in Malaysia: Match or Mismatch?’, Asia Pacific Journal of Education 17, no. 2 (1997): 7–20: here, 10–11.
- 16.
Cheah, ‘Writing Indigenous History in Malaysia’, 67.
- 17.
Z. A. M. Siti, M. Y. Hashim, A. Z. Ghazali, L. K. Hing, A. F. Basri and A. A. W. Zainal Sejarah, Malaysia Tingkatan 5 [Form 5 Malaysian history] (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1992), 126.
- 18.
Ibid., 126.
- 19.
Ibid., 130.
- 20.
Ibid., 131.
- 21.
Cheah, ‘Ethnicity, Politics, and History Textbook Controversies’, 241.
- 22.
CMCS and Nantah, Perbincangan Tentang Sukatan Pelajaran, 13.
- 23.
R. Santhiram, ‘Curriculum Materials for National Integration’, 15.
- 24.
Ting, ‘The Politics of National Identity’; H. Ting, ‘The Battle over the Memory of the Nation: Whose National History?’. In Controversial History Education in Asian Contexts, ed. M. Baildon et al. (London and New York: Routledge, 2014), 36–52.
- 25.
Ting, ‘The Battle over the Memory of the Nation’.
- 26.
H. Ting, ‘Malaysian History Textbooks and the Discourse of Ketuanan Melayu’. In Race and Multiculturalism in Malaysia and Singapore, ed. D. Goh et al. (London and New York: Routledge, 2009).
- 27.
Ibid., 37.
- 28.
Ibid.
- 29.
‘DAP wants review of History subject’ and ’Fix biased version of History first, MCA tells Education Ministry’, The Malaysian Insider, 25 October 2010.
- 30.
See online petition statement at https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/reviewhistorysyllabusinmalaysia/; signatures were also collected manually in hard copies.
- 31.
‘History textbooks biased, say writers’, The Sun, 12 December 2010.
- 32.
‘Non-Malays don’t understand Malaysia’s history, says Perkasa’, The Malaysian Insider, 10 April 2011.
- 33.
See two writeups of a related event here by a participant: http://homeschoolhomefrontier.com/2011/malaysian-history-textbooks-too-narrow-say-our-youths, http://homeschoolhomefrontier.com/2011/homeschoolers-add-to-malaysian-history-debate. The memorandum was subsequently submitted to the Education Ministry together with more than 20,000 signatures; see Ting, ‘The Battle over the Memory of the Nation’ 2014, p. 53;
- 34.
‘DPM appoints new History curriculum committee’, Malaysiakini, 3 May 2011.
- 35.
S. S. Raja, ‘Historians and Integrity’, The Sun, 12 May 2011.
- 36.
‘Mat Sabu dikecam [Mat Sabu criticised]’, Utusan Malaysia, 28 August 2011.
- 37.
‘Muhyiddin dakwa Mat Sabu khianati bangsa, gesa minta maaf [Muhyiddin accuses Mat Sabu of betraying race, urges him to apologise]’, The Malaysian Insider, 28 August 2011.
- 38.
‘PAS wants cabinet committee to review history’, Malaysiakini, 6 September 2011.
- 39.
‘Profs’ council: Leftists not freedom fighters’, Malaysiakini, 9 September 2011.
- 40.
‘Revise perspectives, not facts’, The Star, 25 September 2011.
- 41.
Tunku Zain Al-’Abidin, ‘Traversing The Many Paths To Merdeka’, Malay Mail Online, 8 September 2017.
Further Reading
Blackburn, K. and K. Hack. War Memory and the Making of Modern Malaysia and Singapore. Singapore: National University of Singapore Press, 2012.
Manickam, S. K. ‘Textbooks and Nation Construction in Malaysia’. Asia-Pacific Forum, 28, no. 6 (2005): 78–89.
Naoki, S. ‘The Malay World in Textbooks: The Transmission of Colonial Knowledge in British Malaya’. Southeast Asian Studies, 39, no. 2 (2001): 188–234.
Ting, H. ‘The Japanese Occupation in Malaysian History Textbooks’. In Imagining Japan in Post-War East Asia: Identity Politics, Schooling and Popular Culture, eds. P. Morris, N. Shimazu and E. Vickers. London & New York: Routledge, 2013, 190–209.
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Hung, H.T.M. (2019). Malaysia. In: Cajani, L., Lässig, S., Repoussi, M. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Conflict and History Education in the Post-Cold War Era. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05722-0_28
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