By CPI
We urge CPI readers and others to sign this important petition by a courageous parent. The petition calls on the authorities to act immediately to address the bias and shortcomings plaguing the Malaysian history syllabus and textbooks.
Our younger generation deserve a broad, impartial and fair history in their education. They do not deserve narrowly blinkered history textbooks and a syllabus that are bent on propagandizing parochial ethno-nationalist and religiously biased perspectives and knowledge.
All parents and taxpayers in the country should be concerned with the current situation of history education which is providing our children with selective and biased views and knowledge that can only further polarize and divide the communities and nation rather than serve to unify us on the basis of a fair and accurate representation of our past and that of all civilizations.
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THE PETITION
CALL FOR REVIEW OF HISTORY SYLLABUS IN MALAYSIAN SCHOOLS AND INSTITUTIONS PETITION
We, concerned parents and citizens of Malaysia, note with great concern the following weaknesses and problems in the history textbooks in our nation.
They:-
(a) are filled with many historical errors and half truths;
(b) fail to reflect fairly on the contribution of all races in the development of the nation;
(c) are written from a narrow world perspective and has a strong bias towards certain religious civilization and belief.
In view of the great impact the history textbooks have on the minds of our young children, we call upon our Government and the relevant authorities to undertake an immediate and comprehensive review and rewriting of the history syllabus and textbooks in schools and all other institutions of education in Malaysia.
We propose that this review and rewriting of the syllabus and textbooks be undertaken by a panel of qualified historians . They should be representative of all the major races in the nation.
The objective of the review should be to introduce a liberal and progressive history syllabus and textbooks. These should:-
(1) equip our students with a broad and balanced perspective of the major civilizations and events in world history;
(2) not contain undue emphasis on any particular civilization or religion;
(3) accurately record historical facts from an unbiased viewpoint;
(4) give due and fair recognition to the contributions of all races towards the historical development of the nation;
(5) focus on historical facts and processes, and not contain any religious or political agenda.
To sign petition click here…
Oh come come. Umno does not even tolerate a school boy’s dissent. So let us not talk about reform with umno. Look at what Joe Fernandez, Free Malaysia Today has to report:
“The various punitive measures instituted by SMK Vivekananda authorities against budding human rights advocate Nicol Paul Miranda, 17, doesn’t quite tally with the promotion of critical and creative thinking skills in our schools. The Education Ministry calls it KBKK or Kemahiran Berfikir Secara Kritis dan Kreatif. All the more so when Miranda didn’t cross the lines of reason and decency.
Miranda, who left the school in Brickfields last year after his SPM, has been denied his trial exam results and school leaving certificate. Pending the release of the SPM results, the trial exam results can be used to enter college. Needless to say, one needs the school leaving certificate as well.
He has gone through at least two periods of suspensions just before leaving school. His mother, it has been alleged, was almost physically harmed by the school authorities when she turned up to query his suspensions. Are the school authorities the products of the racist Biro Tata Negara (BTN)?
To add insult to injury, the school has lodged police reports against the student at the Bukit Aman headquarters and at the Brickfields police station.
Surely, these are dangerous precedents which the Education Minister should seriously re-consider or step aside to help de-politicise our politics. If the Education Ministry can be scrapped and replaced by an Education Commission appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, it would be so much the better for our children, youths and the country.
Miranda’s troubles began because he had the temerity to query why we are still celebrating independence when we have not evolved beyond the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) which has had the country in a vice-like grip for the last 54 years. Independence, in the youngster’s view, must mean the freedom to change the government on a regular basis.
Obviously, this has not been happening because the powers that be have been single-mindedly engaged in the destruction of the political opposition for much of the last 54 years. This has been pursued through various ways and means.
Bullying efforts
In the early years of independence, and for many decades after that, the Internal Security Act (ISA) was used to muzzle, terrorise and intimidate the political opposition into submission. Detention under the ISA was a logical follow-up to the constant monitoring and bullying efforts of the Special Branch which has since degenerated, along with the police and other government departments and agencies, into being yet another member of the BN.
Many political parties, for good measure, were deregistered when infiltrating and creating trouble through agent provocateurs didn’t work. The Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) was deregistered after nearly a quarter-century of existence as a breakaway from the Sarawak National Party (SNAP). SNAP was also subsequently deregistered and kicked out of the Sarawak BN but the courts have since given it a new lease of life.
Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), which claims to represent 20,000 ex-PBDS members, was also nearly deregistered in 2008 but a political decision by then Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi saved its hide.
Some 100,000 ex-PBDS members have been denied the opportunity to register the Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC). They have since returned to SNAP which is now making waves in the opposition in Sarawak and giving Chief Minister and Putrajaya’s proxy Abdul Taib Mahmud sleepless nights.
The Dayaks, the majority community in Sarawak, have been chopped up among four political parties in the state BN, that is, one Muslim-led, another Chinese-led and two Dayak-led. The Muslims, meanwhile, are all in one political party as is the case with the Chinese. While the Dayaks in the Muslim-based party, Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), add to the strength of the Muslims, the Dayaks are politically weakened to a similar extent. It’s the same scenario confronting the Dayaks in the Chinese-based Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP).
In Sabah and Sarawak, the perennial question is whether the two states became independent at the same time as Singapore in 1965. The question arises because the definition of Federation in the Federal Constitution post-1965 is according to the 1957 Federation of Malaya and not the 1963 Malaysia Agreement and Federation of Malaysia.
All these provide food for thought and legitimate queries from students like Miranda who are obviously the product of the KBKK programme in our schools.
Miranda has also raised the interesting question of why we should swear by the Rukun Negara (National Philosophy). This sin was also included in the two police reports against him and the suspensions and other punitive measures meted out to him.
Miranda thinks that no one should be forced to swear loyalty to King and country. He has a point here but only if the King and country are not loyal to a citizen. This appears to be the case most of the time. Loyalty is not a one-way process but one that should work both ways. No one should be loyal to anyone who is not loyal to him or her.
Long struggle
Nowadays, many people are not loyal even if you are loyal to them. This is the case with companies suffering, with workers prone to job-hopping. They are wiling to cross the street to another company at the drop of a hat or merely for just a few more measly ringgit in their pockets.
Tenet number one in the Rukun Negara – Belief in God – is a no-no with Miranda, and with good reasons too.
He queries the tenet when the authorities are busy demolishing places of worship and denying people permission to build new places to carry out their obligations to their faith. There need be no argument on this.
One example is the only Catholic Church in Shah Alam which was denied planning and building permission. The authorities relented after a long struggle of over 20 years and this included many court battles. Finally, when permission was granted, construction was halted mid-way and the church was forced to move to another site in the industrial estate. Here, the church has not been allowed to look like a church on the outside but like the other factories in the area. In Russia, the churches look like “mosques” on the outside.
…”
//In Russia, the churches look like “mosques” on the outside.//
In China, the mosques look like “temples” on the outside.
Nicol Paul Miranda should pick up his guitar and belt out a few patriotic songs namewee-style, such as “rukunegarakukuku”
Hey, you want to review and rewrite the syllabus and textbooks to be undertaken by a panel of qualified historians who are representatives of all the major races in the nation. Sure, no problem, we shall have that nincompoop Professor emeritus Khoo then as our Chinese representative, or that moronic lecturer Tee or that spineless political scumbag Lee. See no problem, what else do you need? Ini Tanah Nincompoop. Tak suka jadi nincompoop, keluar!
True history is according to the victors of elections, not the losers. RM 50 per vote, or a free bicycle or a free sewing machine, and history can go to hell.
Najib warned that unlike Egyptian government, Malaysian government would be better at stopping people trying to overthrow it.
Maybe Najib should consider removing the probable causes that might set people to try overthrowing his government. Corruption, legalized and institutionalized type, and the incendiary statements by mamakthir which kill the hope of some of the citizens for a fair and just society are issues that Najib should address rather than threatening people not to react to government excesses. Najib should also realize that in some places, a promise of the opportunity to meet with forever-virgins was enough for people to exchange their present for the unknown futures. What is more for the promise of change that could be realized in the same world?
What is really sickening about the state of affair and what has been done about history in school is that IT HAS NEVER WORKED! Look throughout attempts to brain wash students and people with lies and inevitably it fails.
All these revisionist ultimately do is just create a small but significant group of ideologoues that causes problems for everyone else. Most people don’t subscribe and don’t care to such unfounded spin in the long run because most people have to live and work with either the truth or the popularity of it. These forced lies can never hold up to need and wants of the minds of the masses.
Ya Godfather.i agreed with you that all if not most voters must without bias,temptation with goodies and rent seeking(‘cintanegara’) to exercise our true patriotic duty in election to shape our nation towards more democratic state.Otherwise we all can go to hell.Cintanegara,i know you are the one most unlikely to agree,aren’t you?
At the BN Open House in Penang, the DPM told the Penang CM to ” be fair to all—to the malays, the chinese and the indians”.
I was not there, or else I would had asked uncle moo why my neighbours received 10% off the purchase price of their houses when we are all doing the same work and getting the same pay. Why isn’t his advice of “be fair to all—to the malays, the chinese and the indians” not given to the housing developer?
Can someone here please answer on uncle moo’s behalf as to why I have to pay 10% more for the same house compared to my neighbours? Don’t tell me that it is because I am a pendatang or a mata sepet.
continuation #8
Actually I tried to ask Ah Koon to answer the above question but he pretended not to understand my question. “Don’t jeopardize my senatorship and my minister’s post!” he grrred at me. I then tried to get grandma Ng YY to answer it but she ran off, presumably to help old geezer chua to produce another dvd.
k1980,easy la.It’s like they think we can conjure up cash ala magic whenever we need them.So concentrate hard on your must make it happen the ‘cash’ through yourself’s immersed conjuring power.We have been through 54 years already and i am sure but not hoping this unfair policy to continue though we can make ends meet.
If Mahathir is trying to entertain us, none of us are amused. It was Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew who once disclosed that Mahathir had written Indian Muslim in the box for race when applying to join the University of Malaya, then in Singapore, as a medical student.
For good measure, Lee handed over a copy of Mahathir’s application form to the late sultan of Johore when he requested one. ///– Joe Fernandez, http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/guest-columnists/37953-federal-constitution-silent-on-tribal-claim-to-country
For a person who wanted to guard the secret of his origin, the revelation was certainly a blow. But if the man had not pretended to be Malay to cause trouble, nobody would care what his race originally was and what he owned it to be.
///Malay nationalism, as Roff pointed out, was a creation of the Jawi Peranakan – descendants of Muslims from Kerala in southwestern India – in Singapore. They started the first Malay printing pres and the first Malay newspapers, including Utusan Melayu. The various ethnic groups from the archipelago who crowded into Malaya and Singapore were so much cannon fodder for the Jawi Peranakan as they flogged Malay nationalism./// JF
Jawi Peranakan wanted to show that they were superior Muslims in Penang, and now they want only to be known as Malays. We know that if that one particular Khutty did not land in Malaysia in the 1800s, Malaysia would have attained the status of Japan. Why are other Muslims continue to be economic fodder so that one Jawi Peranakan can make his fellow beings fabulously rich and yet claim to do it so that Malays can be proud, of them?
Mamakthir siad that UMNO now is corrupt and cares only about contracts and APs. That implied that he was clean and was never involved in making UMNO what it is. Everybody in Malays knows he contribution to this present UMNO mess.
Muhyiddin has just borrowed the same formula. He is trying to say that UMNO is not racist through that statement, but we know the story.
Don’t forget, they are also out to con the younger generation by deleting the preamble to the RUKUNEGARA passed by Parliament and which contains these words “…..membina masyarakat yang ADIL….” for fear of questioning by the younger generation of the existence of KETUANAN in a supposedly ADIL society!!!!!!!!!
“True history is according to the victors of elections, not the losers. RM 50 per vote, or a free bicycle or a free sewing machine, and history can go to hell.” By Godfather
Well….If you can’t dance, don’t blame the dance floor…Why some people always blame others for their weaknesses? Never underestimate the voters’ intelligence. … They are smart, savvy and can see beyond political talk and gimmicks…. So Godfather….it would be best for you to enroll in dance class and learn how to do various steps and moves for ballet, tap, jazz, ballroom, and other dance styles….who knows one day you can participate in ‘Dancing with the Stars’….
This fella a..i think he suffered the most critical stage of dementia.I suggest he must immediately have his head medically checked before it could not function anymore.He is becoming more,i will say,toward tyrant boy.Full of mischievous and cunning for the infamous tiga suku nyanyuk.Half man half boy,half human half devil is his signature.
//Full of mischievous and cunning for the infamous tiga suku nyanyuk.Half man half boy//
There is a simple yet effective cure for that. Kick him into the dungeon, give him a black eye every week, and let him subsist on bread and water. That is how the Americans cure the iraqis of their “illnesses” in Abu Graith prison.
//Full of mischievous and cunning for the infamous tiga suku nyanyuk.Half man half boy//
There is a simple yet effective cure for that. Kick him into the dungeon, give him a black eye every week, and let him subsist on bread and water. That is how the Americans cure the iraqis of their so-called “illnesses” in Abu Graith prison.