The Manipulation of History in School Textbook

SChong

Who is the victim for  all of this ?    

http://www.sun2surf.com/articlePrint.cfm?id=55040


History textbooks biased, say writers
By: by Zakiah Koya (Sun, 12 Dec 2010)

PETALING JAYA (Dec 12, 2010): History textbooks are biased and littered with errors, claim two authors and academicians. Dr Ranjit Singh Malhi and Ng How Kuen, who writes history textbooks for Chinese schools, say their experience with officialdom does not augur well for the teaching of history in our classrooms.

Ranjit, author of secondary school history textbooks since 1990, and adviser to the Ministry of Education (MOE) on history textbooks, said such material were littered with factual errors and distortions. He said that when he pointed out the errors and distortions, a ministry official labelled him “anti-national”.

“Secondary school history textbooks have been used to promote political interests. It should be a scholarly pursuit and not politically-motivated,” said Ranjit who showed theSun history textbooks with errors and exaggerated facts.

“Five out of 10 chapters of the Form Four history textbook deal with Islamic history as compared to only one chapter in the earlier textbook. The intention of the earlier syllabus was to expose our students to World History,” he said when commenting on the announcement that the history syllabus is being reviewed and that the subject will be made a compulsory pass in the Sijil
Pelajaran Malaysia from 2013.

“The coverage of important historical events such as Renaissance and Industrial Revolution has been reduced by more than half,” he said.

He also said certain historical personalities, such as Yap Ah Loy (the third Kapitan China of Kuala Lumpur), were not given due recognition. Yap played a major role in the development of Kuala Lumpur as a commercial and tin-mining centre, particularly after the fire of 1881,” he said, adding that the Form Two history textbook had only one sentence on Yap as “one of the persons
responsible for developing Kuala Lumpur”.

“There is also no mention of freedom fighters such as Gurchan Singh (“Lion of Malaya”) and Sybil Karthigesu who resisted the Japanese Occupation of Malaya,” he said. (Gurchan secretly distributed a newspaper during the Japanese occupation while Sybil, who was tortured by the Japanese, and her husband treated wounded guerillas of the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army).

The most glaring example of bias, he said, was related to the downfall of the Malay Sultanate of Malacca.

"The 1996 Form One textbook stated inter alia that a few Indian merchants lent their junks to the Portuguese in their attack on Malacca. I know of no historical evidence to support this fact,” said Ranjit.

“Six Chinese captains agreed to lend their junks to the Portuguese due to their hatred for Sultan Mahmud who had earlier detained them and their men to help attack Aru. The Portuguese used only one junk provided by one of the Chinese,” he said.

Ranjit pointed out that the decision to make history a must pass subject for SPM from 2013 was rooted in a wrong premise. "It is not right to assume that students will study history seriously and will be more patriotic after clearly understanding the Federal Constitution and the social contract.

“Patriotism thrives when citizens have a ‘sense of belonging’ and perceive themselves being treated equitably,” he said.

Ng, meanwhile, fears that making history a compulsory pass subject would mean one would have to subscribe to one’s version of events or risk failing the entire examination.

Ng, whose textbooks are still used in Chinese-medium primary schools, however stressed that it was timely to review the syllabus. “We always had to follow the curriculum given by the MOE and therefore the ruling parties have the upper hand in defining our history.”

As an example, he said when writing on the fight for independence, the contributions of the communists were left out.

He said history books should be written by historians and not teachers as the former were not bound by the curriculum.

“Students do know the truth but as textbooks are written according to approved curriculum, students end up learning history that is skewed,” said Ng. -- theSun

spiderman80

Tak pe, sejarah boleh diubah.

nobito

Depa kena banyakkan tulis pasal pejuang2 kemerdekaan sebelum umno ditubuhkan...macam Hartal...

BotakChinPeng

The tall junk beached by the portuguese near malacca bridge was not chinese. The chinese only gave their launches to the portuguese.These were used to land troops and perhaps also to become artillery platforms going up and down the malacca river during the second attack.

The tall junk was most likely one of a few seized by the portuguese on their way from goa to malacca. It could be from any one of the major shipbuilding nations of asia such as chinese, indians, peguans, javanese or malay.

BotakChinPeng

Reply 1# SChong

Hahahahaha.
That communist lover was tortured by the japanese ? Serves her right.


and why should we bother with ppl like yap ah loy or that newspaper distributor ?
They were only looking after their own interest. Just like those terrorist communist, they contributed nothing to the nation.

sekngucing

apa guna tunjuk sejarah2 kecik tuuu
-kasi la penerangan pasal kerajaan dan empayar2 melayu sebelum melaka mcm langkasuka
-kasi la org2 malasia kenal dgn suku mon
-kasi la org msia kenal merong mahawangsa

ChildrenOfBodom

apa guna tunjuk sejarah2 kecik tuuu
-kasi la penerangan pasal kerajaan dan empayar2 melayu sebelum  ...
sekngucing Post at 15-12-2010 00:52

mana bleh cerita pasai langkasuka. tak islemik la, lankasuka hindu.

nobito

X banyak cerita sejarah pasal Langkasuka....

Kalau Empayar Chermin mungkin la tp agak kabur gak....

shahaizat

citer pasal Yap Ah Loy sikit sangat.......Yap Ah Loy tak terlibat secara langsung dalam perjuangan kemerdekaan......lagipun kalau citer pasal dia nih cuma akan menimbulkan rasa tak puas hati.......jadi lebih baik tak keluarkan cite dia....

Komunis memang lar boleh dikira pejuang kemerdekaan tapi dia mengkhianat negara sendiri dan mahu buat pemerintahan kuku besi....


Slalunya kalau sejarah yang berpotensi menimbulkan isu perkauman, biasanya tak diceritakan dalam buku skolah macam peristiwa   13 Mei tu tak diceritakan secara detail.

shahaizat

Reply 8# nobito


    Ader tak buku pasal empayar ni?

BotakChinPeng

Kuala lumpur was developed by the selangor govt. Just like the entire nation was built by its govt. Mining coolies like yap ah loy only built their own kongsi shacks, opium den, pigtail accessory shops, whorehouses and pigsties

nobito

Reply 10# shahaizat


    X da.. Langkasuka yg tua dh lama lenyap tanpa kesan yg jelas..cuma tertulis dlm catatan orang Cina...

Kalau nak kata orang Kelantan ni Mon atau Khmer pon x tepat sebab Empayar Chermin dikatakan menerima pengaruh Jawa, Aceh n Kemboja...

sekngucing

apa yg botakchinpeng tu ckp betul laa
-tp geng2 ah loy ni menyumbang bnyak utk pendapatan negeri

blacksun

ala dua ekor mamat ni nk history ditulus berdasarkan fahaman dorang,supaya memihak kepada bangsa dorang. klu biar org2 racist mcm ni tulis history mesti org melayu dibuang terus dr rekod sejarah.
at least sejarah hari ni xde buang dorang terus

kuseng_power

ala dua ekor mamat ni nk history ditulus berdasarkan fahaman dorang,supaya memihak kepada bangsa dor ...
blacksun Post at 15-12-2010 08:41

    nie nama nya buta sejarah....heheh aku rasa komunis tu dulu suku sakat nenek ngan atok dia la kot.. sebab tu terbawa2 perangai komunis smpi skrg..

blacksun

Reply 15# kuseng_power


    haha mcm ni la adat dunia,bangsa yg lemah kena pinggir,yg kuat tulis sejarah. so selama mane kita kekal kuat dan yakin, kita tulis la sejarah sendiri. xperlu dgr cakap org putih

kuseng_power

yup2,peduli ap aorg nak kata apa

zaharul_asriq94

Reply 15# kuseng_power


   darah keturunan komunis kot

kuseng_power

Reply  kuseng_power


   darah keturunan komunis kot
zaharul_asriq94 Post at 15-12-2010 09:30

    haa la kot..sebab tu kedegak semacam jer..

zaharul_asriq94

Reply 16# blacksun


  

so selama mane kita kekal kuat dan yakin, kita tulis la sejarah sendiri. xperlu dgr cakap org putih

ada mamat tu jadikan mat salleh sbgai pedoman, pastu kutuk2 bangsa sendiri... apa punya manusia... malukan mak bapak