KUCHING: Sarawak Teachers’ Union (STU) is all out for the school’s history syllabus to be revised.
The union felt that most importantly, the formation of Malaysia should be properly highlighted in the new syllabus.
The union noted that the formation of Malaysia had not been put into the right perspective, thus depriving students of knowing how the country was formed.
“We (in STU) fully agree for the history syllabus to be reviewed and one very important issue to highlight is how Malaysia was formed.”
“The present history about Malaysia is one sided … it’s only about Tanah Melayu, but Sabah and Sarawak are omitted, and how Malaysia came into existence,” said STU president William Ghani Bina in a telephone interview.
He was asked to comment on the announcement by Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Khaled Nordin, who was reportedly quoted as telling reporters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday that the history syllabus for schools was to be revised following new findings on the nation’s past.
The findings, according to Mohd Khaled, were made by philosopher Tan Sri Prof Syed Muhammad Naquid Al-Attas and recorded in his new book, ‘Historical Fact and Fiction’.
Gani said without Sabah and Sarawak and also Singapore, Malaysia would never exist, although Singapore eventually separated from Malaysia.
“Sabah and Sarawak and also Singapore helped form Malaysia.”
“We (Sabah and Sarawak) never join Malaysia, and this must be properly highlighted in the new (history) syllabus.”
“The history about Malaysia cannot be one-sided,” Gani said, adding that Sept 16 must also be explained.
His deputy Jisin Nyud agreed with the view, saying that before the formation of Malaysia, Peninsular Malaysia was called Federation of Malaya.
“Sabah and Sarawak, and Federation of Malaya and Singapore joined together to form Malaysia.”
“Sabah and Sarawak never join Malaysia, thus Sept 16 is a significant date for Malaysia and must be explained in detail in the new history syllabus,” Jisin said.
Meanwhile, a parent Mohd Sanny said many young people were ignorant of how Malaysia was formed because it was not highlighted in the history syllabus.
Thus, he hoped the new history syllabus would put to rest the correct perspective and fact on how Malaysia came about.
“It’s very important that the formation of Malaysia is clearly and correctly explained and highlighted in the new history syllabus to enable our younger people to understand the history of our country,” he said.