Ministry, MIC discuss Interlok today

(Malaysiakini) The Education Ministry and the MIC will dabble on outcries over Interlok, a required text for Malay Literature in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia today.

Deputy Education Minister Mohd Puad Zarkashi said he would chair the meeting which would be held at the ministry in Putrajaya at 9am.

On the inclusion of two more panel members from the MIC, he said he had not been informed about it.

Asked whether he is willing to accept the duo, he said, "I do not know. You have to ask the education director-general (Abd Ghafar Mahmud) on the matter."

MIC president G Palanivel, in a statement yesterday, named two more panel members for the discussion.

They are Malaysia Hindu Sangam former president Nagappan Arumugam and Tamil Youth Bell Club president S Vaithlingam.

Other members are Malaysia Hindu Sangam president RS Mohan Shan, former head of University Malaya's Indian Studies Department S Singaravelu, current head S Kumaran, MIC education bureau chairperson T Marimuthu and former education ministry officer G Krishnabagwan.

Interlok, authored by national laureate Abdullah Hussain, which revolves on the integration of the Malays, Chinese and Indians in pre-independence Malaya, is said to contain words deemed sensitive to the Indian community.

- Bernama