MCA leaders are protesting that MCA’s contributions to nation-building like the formation of Malaysia had been sidelined in history textbooks.
MCA Deputy President and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Dr. Wee Ka Siong complained about the case in the SJKC Year Six history textbook where MCA’s contribution towards the formation of Malaysia, in particular that of late Wong Pow Nee, the first Chief Minister of Penang, was not mentioned at all despite the his contribution as a member of the Cobbold Commission which recommended positively on the establishment of Malaysia in 1963.
Page 10 and 11 of the textbook showed various Malaysian leaders like UMNO’s Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Razak, two leaders from Sabah namely Tun Fuad and Tun Mustapha and three from Sarawak, Stephen Kalong Ningkan, Temenggong Jugah and Ong Kee Hui, and even Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew, as “founders” of Malaysia but no mention of any MCA leader.
There was not only no mention of Wong Pow Nee, but also omission of the MCA President Tun Tan Siew Sin.
But Wee only complained about the omission of Wong Pow Nee but not about the omission of Tan Siew Sin – which shows that the present batch of MCA leaders including those who have become Ministers have forgotten the contributions of past MCA Presidents like Tun Tan Siew Sin.
How can Wee and the MCA leaders complain that the services of past MCA leaders had been sidelined or forgotten when they themselves have sidelined or forgotten the contributions of past MCA Presidents like Tun Tan Siew Sin?
The SJKC Year Six history textbook prepared under the auspices of the Education Ministry provides another vivid illustration of how serious is the rot of the education system six decades after Merdeka, and how ridiculous and outrageous are government claims that the Malaysian education system is not only world-class but better than the education systems in UK, Germany and the United States.
In the SJKC Year Six history textbook, the state of Malacca had been shifted to the north of the country, near Kelantan.
The Education Ministry have very creative people who can do impossible things like moving Malaysian states all over the map, but this unfortunately reflects very poorly on the low standards of educational attainment and excellence of textbook writers and those in the Education Ministry supervising the preparation of textbooks.
What has the Education Minister Datuk Mahdzir Khalid got to say about such shocking educational standards in his Ministry?
(Speech at the DAP “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion?” kopitiam ceramah in Kota Tinggi on Saturday, November 28, 2015 at 4 pm)
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