PETALING JAYA: MIC president G Palanivel has been urged to give the government until Friday, a day before the Tenang by-eletion, to remove the controversial Interlok book from schools.
Otherwise, DAP Klang MP Charles Santiago said, the MIC president’s latest call would be interpreted as a ploy to fish for votes.
“When I spoke to some Indians in Tenang, they informed me that MIC told them that the book will be withdrawn from schools soon,” he added.
To prove his sincerity, Santiago said Palanivel should set the deadline. “If not, it will call MIC’s bluff and prove that Indian’s cannot take MIC’s words seriously,” he added.
Book runs foul of 1Malaysia
Asked on his views about Interlok, Santiago said that he had no issues with the novel as it was a literary work.
“However, we cannot use the novel as a textbook. Our students are not matured enough to think critically on it and they will just accept the contents as it is. In the end, the younger generation will just think all Malaysian Indians are ‘pariah’ (outcaste),” he said.
He added that the book itself was contrary to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s 1Malaysia concept, which aims to foster racial unity.
“The irony is that the book’s front cover has the 1Malaysia logo while the back cover states that the book promotes the aspiration,” he noted.
Yesterday, Palanivel called upon the government to withdraw the book, saying that it was not in line with Najib’s 1Malaysia.
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