The New Straits Times
by V. Shankar Ganesh, Suganti Subramaniam and Masami Mustaza
by V. Shankar Ganesh, Suganti Subramaniam and Masami Mustaza
KUALA LUMPUR: The move to amend the controversial Interlok school textbook begins today as an independent panel tries to find a balance to appease the Indian community and retain the novel's essence of unity.
Panel chairman Professor Datuk Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin said many meetings were expected before the panel could finalise any amendment and submit them to the government for approval.
At the panel's first meeting today at the Education Ministry in Putrajaya, panel members would be briefed on their terms of reference.
"The panel will not be prejudiced against anyone. We will be open to all input," said the professor of social anthropology in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Panel chairman Professor Datuk Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin said many meetings were expected before the panel could finalise any amendment and submit them to the government for approval.
At the panel's first meeting today at the Education Ministry in Putrajaya, panel members would be briefed on their terms of reference.
"The panel will not be prejudiced against anyone. We will be open to all input," said the professor of social anthropology in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
"One of the main things we will discuss is the definition of a novel. We have to clarify this before moving on," he told the New Straits Times.
The meeting, he added, would "go beyond personal and group opinions".
The panel will include representatives from the MIC, Federation of Malaysian National Writers Association (Gapena), Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) and officials from the Education Ministry.
The author of the novel, national laureate Datuk Abdullah Hussein, will be represented by his wife.
The hotly debated novel was approved for use as a literature component of the Bahasa Malaysia subject for Form Five students this year.
It was used in schools in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Selangor and Negri Sembilan.
However, leaders from the Indian community protested over the use of the book, saying it contained derogatory words and factual errors on geographical, sociological and historical issues.
They also claimed it contained religious misinterpretations and cultural errors.
The Interlok novel was written in 1967 and published in 1971. According to the National Interlok Action Team (NIAT), comprising some 140 Indian-based NGOs, the original work contained 123,550 words but had been edited and reduced by 20 per cent for textbook purposes.
The edited version was published in 2005 as an optional reading material for secondary schools and last year, it was further edited before being made compulsory reading material. The copyright of the book is now with the DBP.
A NIAT analysis also found that the three main characters in the book, portraying the Malay, Chinese and Indian personalities, had varying degrees of editing.
The Malay character Seman had been edited by three per cent, Chin Huat had been edited by 10 per cent while Maniam was edited by 20 per cent.
Following protests by the community, Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin chaired a meeting attended by MIC leaders and non-governmental organisations to hear their grouses.
The MIC pressed the government to withdraw the book, but following meetings with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Muhyiddin, it was decided that the novel would be retained.
However, amendments will be made to the text deemed offensive and factually wrong by the panel.
Its use in schools was also suspended until the amendments were incorporated into the novel.
One of the main issues that drew protests from the Indian community was the use of the word "pariah", in the novel.
Gapena had supported the ministry's decision to use Interlok as a textbook and that the only acceptable change that could be made to the novel was to add a glossary for the word "pariah" to better explain it.
Other Malay literary enthusiasts and academicians have insisted that the value of the book lies in its overall theme of unity and ethnic integration as the novel was set in Malaya between the early 1900s and the country's independence.
It focuses on the challenges faced by three deprived families -- Malay, Chinese, Indian -- on their daily struggles.
They also questioned why only after 40 years, the Indians were protesting over the book. However, Indian community leaders responded that the concerns only arose after the novel was made as compulsory textbook for students.
Indian leaders have also called on the ministry to realise that the issue was not just the "pariah" word as there were more than 20 passages in the novel that they claim are derogative of Indians.
The meeting, he added, would "go beyond personal and group opinions".
The panel will include representatives from the MIC, Federation of Malaysian National Writers Association (Gapena), Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) and officials from the Education Ministry.
The author of the novel, national laureate Datuk Abdullah Hussein, will be represented by his wife.
The hotly debated novel was approved for use as a literature component of the Bahasa Malaysia subject for Form Five students this year.
It was used in schools in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Selangor and Negri Sembilan.
However, leaders from the Indian community protested over the use of the book, saying it contained derogatory words and factual errors on geographical, sociological and historical issues.
They also claimed it contained religious misinterpretations and cultural errors.
The Interlok novel was written in 1967 and published in 1971. According to the National Interlok Action Team (NIAT), comprising some 140 Indian-based NGOs, the original work contained 123,550 words but had been edited and reduced by 20 per cent for textbook purposes.
The edited version was published in 2005 as an optional reading material for secondary schools and last year, it was further edited before being made compulsory reading material. The copyright of the book is now with the DBP.
A NIAT analysis also found that the three main characters in the book, portraying the Malay, Chinese and Indian personalities, had varying degrees of editing.
The Malay character Seman had been edited by three per cent, Chin Huat had been edited by 10 per cent while Maniam was edited by 20 per cent.
Following protests by the community, Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin chaired a meeting attended by MIC leaders and non-governmental organisations to hear their grouses.
The MIC pressed the government to withdraw the book, but following meetings with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Muhyiddin, it was decided that the novel would be retained.
However, amendments will be made to the text deemed offensive and factually wrong by the panel.
Its use in schools was also suspended until the amendments were incorporated into the novel.
One of the main issues that drew protests from the Indian community was the use of the word "pariah", in the novel.
Gapena had supported the ministry's decision to use Interlok as a textbook and that the only acceptable change that could be made to the novel was to add a glossary for the word "pariah" to better explain it.
Other Malay literary enthusiasts and academicians have insisted that the value of the book lies in its overall theme of unity and ethnic integration as the novel was set in Malaya between the early 1900s and the country's independence.
It focuses on the challenges faced by three deprived families -- Malay, Chinese, Indian -- on their daily struggles.
They also questioned why only after 40 years, the Indians were protesting over the book. However, Indian community leaders responded that the concerns only arose after the novel was made as compulsory textbook for students.
Indian leaders have also called on the ministry to realise that the issue was not just the "pariah" word as there were more than 20 passages in the novel that they claim are derogative of Indians.
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