Islamic-Malay bias in history text books

(Malaysiakini) Historian and writer Ranjit Singh Malhi contended that in his expert opinion, there is an Islamic-Malay centric bias in Malaysian history text books and will not stay silent about it.

"So what, I lose a few million(in book contracts). I will be unpopular. It's all right. Don't sell your soul... Speak the truth and shame the devil," said the historian at a forum organised by the Catholic Teacher's Asociation in Petaling Jaya.

Bemoaning the "lopsided" and "biased" crop of local history textbooks, he lamented some historians do not admit that such things occurred in our history text books.

He quoted a local historian whose statement was published in the Malay Mail on Dec 17 last year dismissing bias in the writing of history text books.

As proof of his claim, Ranjit submitted his own research which has shown that references to other religions were reduced significantly while those to Islam have bloated from 17 percent in the previous form four history text book, to 41 percent in the current one.

Proving perhaps that you can read the book by its cover, Ranjit held up successive versions of history textbooks and how significantly they differed from the early ones compared with the current crop. 

He argued that previous covers included representations of non-Malays as well as civilisations other then Islam, but noted that in the current versions, only Malay leaders and depictions of Islamic civilisation are included.

Ranjit (left) who has written numerous history textbooks for the Malaysian education system said that he had stopped doing so being unable stand the shenanigans he had observed in the way history was selectively written.

"History was distorted. It all started in 1996. Prior to that there no value judgements in history text books. But the form four history text books for example are full of value judgements,"he said.

Value judgements mar text books

He was commenting on recent addendums to such text books which he indicated has prescribed morale judgements on historical events biased in favour of one race and one religion in particular.

At the time when Ranjit said that these "distortions" began, current Premier Najib Razak was the education minister, serving from 1995 to 1996 prior to taking on the mantle of defence minister.

Such practices as putting in value judgements in historical texts said Ranjit go against the principles of good history text.

Good history text books, he said, must be;

• Factually accurate,
• Generally objective,
• Well balanced, and,
• Devoid of value judgements.

However ,he argued that he can prove that history text books nowadays are totally the opposite of such values.

Ranjit listed four faults of our current history textbooks after poring over them word by word. In his expert opinion, the current crop exhibit;

• Islamic-Malay centric bias,
• Some half truths,
• Numerous factual errors and contradictions, and,
• Politically motivated orientation.

'Historical death'

One 'crime' observed the veteran writer, is the intentional 'killing off' of certain important non-Malay historical figures from the pages of official history.

"I call it historical death, you won't find it in books, because it is a term I invented,"he explained in relation to non-Malays and their contributions to Malaysian history he claimed were edited out.

He listed several key figures, crucial to Malaysian history who have been left out of in the modern official re-telling;

• Yap Ah Loy responsible for building early Kuala Lumpur, well acknowledge by world historians, have been reduced to one sentence in Malaysian historical text books,
• Gurchan Singh, the 'Lion of Malaya' who published and distributed an underground newspaper during the Japanese occupation, and,
• Sybil Karthigesu, the nurse who helped treat MPAJA soldiers and did not desist even after the Japanese tortured her.

As for factual errors and half-truths, Ranjit pointed out a few of the more glaring ones, including the omission of the fact that Parameswara was Hindu and died a Hindu and the glossing over and belittling of the contribution of non-Malay troops in the defence, of then Malaya, against the Japanese onslaught.

"This is bulls***t!" he jokingly exclaimed, quickly apologising for swearing in a holy place of worship.

He also pointed out the miraculous appearance of references to Ketuanan Melayu which was not found anywhere in history text books prior to recent events.

The historian also recommended several steps which he believes will help to resolve the matter;

• A review of all history text books to ensure factual accuracy, consistency, objectivity and a balanced account,
• History text writers must have content mastery, good track record and are meticulous,
• History text books must be devoid of value judgements,
• Emphasis on critical thinking and learning as opposed to rote learning and memorisation, and,
• More involving and inclusive history lessons as opposed to traditional lectures.

However, Ranjit clarified that he has no problem with the Malays or Islam in general, but his problem lies with the lopsided depiction of history alone.

The forum about the biased depiction of history in school text books was held at the Assumption Church in Petaling Jaya and was well attended by NGO representatives, parishioners and members of the media.

It also featured a commentary on the same issue by SUN editor Terence Fernendez and was moderated by Father Micheal Chua.

Every year SPM top Indian Students denied equal educational opportunities: SPM top students result certificates starts flowing in. Fax us your SPM result slips.

Article 12 of the Federal Constitution provides for equal educational opportunities to all students irrespective of race, religion and place of birth.

However under the racist and bully UMNO regime @ junta it only remains a letter of the law without any compliance to it despite the Federal Constitution the highest law in the country.

Every year top and high achieving Indian students are being denied equal educational opportunities despite their excellent result continues. To add this misery, Saranya Subramaniam who scored 7As and 4b+ in the recent SPM Examinations Science Stream is being denied her constitutional right by the UMNO regime to become a Medical doctor.

In her childhood, Saranya had always dream to become a doctor. She studied hard and produced the results. Had she been a Malay muslim she would have easily qualified for a scholarships and Matriculation to do medicine locally or granted a scholarship to do Medicine in Egypt, India, Indonesia, Russia, Ukraine etc. But being born a poor Indian is a sin in One Malay-sia. And Saranya’s case is only the tip of the iceberg.

If this result was obtained by Malay Muslim students offers and scholarships will be pouring in and the sky will be the limit. But for Indians it is just the one moment in glory and may be their pictures in the newspapers. But their ambition sooner or later will be buried by the UMNO regime through their racist and bully social engineering.

SPM students who scored 5As and above in the SPM examination and who had been or is likely to be systematically excluded from higher educational opportunities, please fax us your result slip for us to continue championing equal educational opportunities or contact us at 03-22825241.

Proof of racist UMNO bully“ethnic cleansing” of Bukit Jalil Indian plantation village to make way for malay muslim cemetery.

DBKL claims that the land belongs to the state religious department Jawi, but the land office has no record of this.

KUALA LUMPUR: The tussle between Ladang Bukit Jalil residents and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has taken a mysterious turn with the Putrajaya Land office claiming the land did not exist in its records.

Independent observer Chin Choong Men said although DBKL, in its affidavit, said the land belonged to the Federal Territories Islamic Department (Jawi), there was no evidence provided to back this.

“The land office told us there are no documents to prove that someone owns the land as the land itself does not exist in their records,” he told a press conference here.

Also present were Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) secretary-general S Arutchelvan, Human Rights Party national coordinator K Balakrishnan and the estate’s action committee secretary S Thiakarajan.

On March 14, the 41 families living in the estate obtained an interim injunction to stop DBKL from demolishing their homes after being slapped with eviction notices on March 1.

The court had set April 27 to hear an inter-parte hearing between both parties and the residents would be represented by Lawyers for Liberty coordinator Fadiah Nadwa Fikri and PKR vice president N Surendran.

Residents classified as squatters

Arutchelvan said that DBKL, in its affidavit, also sought to declare the residents as squatter dwellers and its notices on June 2007 to evict them under the Emergency Ordinance as legal.

“The Federal Territories and Urban Well-Being Ministry had already told that these people are former estate workers and that is why compensation is being offered.

“Now their legal team is calling them squatters. So who is lying here?” he asked.

In February, Federal Territories and Urban Well-Being Minister Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin had admitted that the residents were former estate workers after a meeting with them.

Arutchelvan also took a swipe at DBKL for giving more consideration to the dead while trying to evict the residents.

“It is stated in the affidavit that the land belongs to Jawi and it is slated to be turned into a cemetary.

“We are disturbed by the fact that the entire 26-acre land is being alloted to the dead. Is it wrong to set aside a four-acre land for the living?” he asked.

Saying that the affidavit contained false information, Arutchelvan urged Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to intervene and resolve the matter amicably.

Search your soul, Pakatan told

Indian leaders tell the opposition alliance why it is losing the community’s support.

GEORGE TOWN: Indian community leaders in and outside Pakatan Rakyat have called on the opposition coalition to do some soul-searching over its loss of Indian support.

They say Pakatan must question the sincerity of its leaders and the competence of its state administrations in addressing Indian concerns.

Hindraf Makkal Sakti adviser N Ganesan warned that Pakatan would not be able to woo back Indian votes if it continued with what he called “shadow-play” politics, occasionally using officials with “Indian-sounding names” to hand out “peanut funds” for Indian NGOs and Hindu temples.

He said Pakatan had failed to capitalise on its control of several state governments, pushing the Indian working class back to BN “because they prefer the familiar devil to a friend they don’t know”.

A DAP leader in Penang said it was time for Pakatan to carry out “pro-active initiatives” that would bring “real benefits” to the Indian community.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said last weekend’s meeting of the Pakatan Indian leadership was a good start but must be followed up with dialogue sessions involving the coalition’s Indian members and NGO representatives.

The meeting was held in Penang and attended by Pakatan leaders from states with high Indian populations. It was chaired by P Ramasamy, one of Penang’s deputy chief ministers.

He said Pakatan should not wait too long to hold the follow-up sessions in light of speculation about the imminence of the next general election. Pakatan states should use the findings as bases for policies benefitting the Indians, he added.

Another DAP man lamented the Pakatan governments’ failure to form state-level caucuses immediately after the last general election to address Indian-related issues.

G Asoghan, chairman of DAP’s Jalan Bagan Luar branch here, said Indians abandoned BN to vote for Pakatan in the last general election because they thought the opposition parties could resolve long-standing issues affecting their community.

“They are now disappointed that Pakatan governments have failed to carry out any noteworthy policy to help the predominantly poor Indian working class, even in Penang, where there is a deputy chief minister of Indian origin.”

Bad governance

He rebuked Pakatan governments for focusing on building support among Malays and Chinese while neglecting the Indians.

“This is not good governance,” he said.

He belittled last weekend’s meeting, saying that the exclusion of some elected representatives showed a lack of seriousness in addressing Indian concerns.

Absent from the meeting were state assemblymen M Manoharan of Kota Shah Alam, S Sivasubramaniam of Buntong and V Sivakumar of Tronoh. Sivakumar was the Speaker of the Perak State Assembly when Pakatan controlled the state.

Asoghan also spoke of rumours about misappropriation of funds collected by DAP in a 2008 campaign to help Sri Lankan Tamils.

According to one of the rumours, part of the money has been deposited into the account of a London-based Sri Lankan who is under suspicion of funding terrorism.

He said he would write to DAP headquarters for clarification. “Party members have the right to know the status of the fund now.”

Ganesan said the governments of Penang, Kedah and Selangor had committed the same wrongdoings that their BN predecessors were guilty of.

He pointed to the demolition of Kampung Buah Pala in Penang, the destruction of a Hindu burial ground in Kuala Ketil, Kedah, and the closing down of a temple in Bukit Gasing, Selangor.

Life savings gone into sinking homes

Residents of a village are crying foul because the houses they built on a former dumpsite are tilting dangerously.

(Free Malaysia Today) IPOH: Ten families who used their life savings to build their dream homes 15 years ago are now having sleepless nights – their houses are slowing sinking.

Life for these families from Kampung Tersusun Buntong Tiga Tambahan has become a daily nightmare since then.

The distraught residents feel they have been short-changed by the state government into building their houses on a former dumpsite.

The families are former squatters who have been relocated from various squatter areas by the state government to this village which has about 500 houses.

The affected families had invested between RM50,000 and RM80,000 each from their life savings including the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to build their houses on the land given by the state government.

But to their horror, the families found out that the houses were built on an unstable dumpsite. With the passage of years, their houses began to tilt.

One of the affected residents, E Sutharam, 70, a schoolbus driver, told reporters today that he had withdrawn RM75,000 from his EPF to build his house in 1997. But after two years, he saw cracks appearing on the walls.

Over the years, the foundation of his house started to sink and now his house has tilted to one side.

Fearing for the safety of his family, Sutharam moved out, saying that his house may collapse at any time.

He is also worried that he might lose his job because of his age and wonders how he is going to pay the monthly RM450 for his rented house.

Gas-like odour

Another victim, A Sellahma, 70, took out all her family savings of RM50,000 for her house in 1994.

According to her, the house is now tilting and the back portion has sunk. But she said she does not want to move out to her children’s place because she has invested all her savings in the house.

Residents have also detected gas-like odour emitting from the ground and claimed it is flammable.

Another resident K Subramaniam, 70, also a schoolbus driver, had invested RM80,000 into his now sinking house and feels the state government has short-changed the residents.

All the 10 families had approached the state government in 2003 just before the general election. They also sought the help of former state MIC chief G Rajoo who allegedly promised them alternative houses or government quarters.

But until today, the state government has yet to fulfil its promise of repairing the damaged houses or providing alternative housing.

Meanwhile, DAP Buntong assemblyman A Sivasubramaniam said he highlighted the plight of the residents at the Perak State Legislative Assembly sitting on Aug ,3 last year.

But he claimed the state government was evasive in its reply.

He also alleged that the state government had made election promises in 2004 and 2008 of providing relief to the residents but they were not fulfilled

He added that he would raise the issue again at the next assembly sitting on April 12.

He also suggested that the government could relocate the residents to 27 unoccupied houses in Taman Buntong Ria.

Second Autospy rightly as of right for Malay muslim victim Ahmad Sarbani. But denied and misery for hundreds of such Indian victims under racist bully UMNO regime.

With no hue and cry the Federal Police HQ Deputy CID Director Dato Acyrl Sani under UMNO PM Najib Razak’s orders  as of right a second Post Mortem. For the racist UMNO bully this order is just because the victim is a Malay muslim.

We recall the tip of the iceberg case in 2004 when Francis Udayappan was brutally killed at the Brickfields police station and his body was thrown  into the Klang River.
His body was kept at the University Hospital mortuary for almost 2 years. When released only bits and pieces of his skull a piece of rotten and smelly flesh and bones were handed over (see photos below). In the mean time in this two years imagine the misery of Francis mother Sara lily every day and every night. But when it is a Malay muslim victim as in the instant case rightly the misery ended within the second day with the second post mortem being amicably conducted.
Tens of (now) Hindraf and HRP activists were arrested in public campaigns, scores of police reports lodged. But zero action on police murder despite 7 years now. Even the 98% Malay muslim UMNO racist and bully, High Court and Court of Appeal dismissed Francis’ civil suit without even hearing the Police murder’s defence.
One rule for Malay muslims and the economically powerful Chinese and another rule for the Indian poor.
(see The Star 8/4/2011 at page N 3)
Karunai Nithi @ Compassionate Justice.

No Justice for Human Rights Party? In 98% Malay muslim UMNO controlled Judiciary?

The Human Rights Party (HRP) had been granted a date for hearing of its application for Judicial Review for Certiorari and Mandamus vide Civil Suit No: R2-25-67-11 to compel the rightful registration of the Human Rights Party as a political Party. 26 April 2011 has been set as the hearing date for the above mentioned hearing for leave.
The case will be heard in Jalan Duta High Court on 26/4/2011 at 9.00 a.m. The application for leave was filed as the UMNO racist bully Home Minister and their Registrar of Societies refused to register Human Rights Party as a political party despite several applications and letters dated 18/6/09, 25/11/2010, 16/12/11, 17/2/11, and final Letter of Demand dated 14 March 2011 asking the Registrar of Societies to register Human Rights Party as a political party.
We await the day we see Justice for Human Rights Party in the racist bully UMNO Courts.
Karunai Nithi @ Compassionate Justice