PUTRAJAYA: A meeting was held at the Education Ministry here yesterday on the controversial ‘Interlok’ issue, attended by 22 people who included six MIC-appointed representatives.
CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE: Mohd Puad (third right) with representatives from MIC and NGOs during the dialogue session. — Bernama photo
Deputy Education Minister Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi chaired the meeting, which lasted for about four hours from 9am.
Dr Mohd Puad told reporters later that the meeting proceeded smoothly in a cordial atmosphere and the participants discussed the matter in an intellectual manner.
“Interlok”, a novel on the integration of the Malays, Chinese and Indians in then pre-independence Malaya written by national laureate Datuk Abdullah Hussain, had sparked controversy as it allegedly contained words deemed sensitive to the Indian community.
The book is being used as a required text for Malay Literature in Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) beginning this year.
Dr Mohd Puad said the ministry officials, including director-general of Education Datuk Abdul Ghafar Mahmud, listened to the reasoning of all quarters comprising the representatives of the MIC-appointed panel, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and academicians.
“We proceeded with the dialogue in a cordial and intellectual manner without getting emotional because the ultimate objective as agreed upon was to come up with suitable recommendations and a solution to the issue,” he said.
He said a report on the meeting would be handed over to Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin later yesterday for presentation to the Cabinet.
He also said that the contents of the report could not be revealed as yet because only the Cabinet could make a decision on the matter.
Dr Mohd Puad said that at the outset of yesterday’s meeting, the ministry officials explained how the novel had been selected as the required text for Malay Literature for Form Five students.
“It had gone through a tight process. We also scrutinised the rationale and justification for selection of the novel, considering both internal and external factors as well as in terms of the plot and so on.”
“This was elaborated by our officials,” he said.
The six MIC-appointed representatives are Malaysia Hindu Sangam President RS Mohan Shah, head of the Indian Studies Department of Universiti Malaya Assoc Prof Dr S Kumaran, MIC Education Bureau chairman Tan Sri Dr T Marimuthu, former Education Ministry officer G Krishnabagwan, former president of Malaysia Hindu Sangam Dr A Nagappan Arumugam and Tamil Youth Bell Club President SV Lingam.
Others at the meeting included representatives from Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), Federation of National Writers Associations (Gapena) and National Writers Association of Malaysia. — Bernama