KUALA LUMPUR: The withdrawal of the Form Five literature textbook, ‘Interlok’, which was alleged to contain sensitive elements that might be offensive to the Malays and Indians, was made after discussions with relevant authorities including the Education Ministry and Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk T Murugiah said the Public Complaints Bureau (PCB) had been deluged with complaints on some sensitive words in the book and, as chairman of the bureau, he believed that immediate actions should be taken to resolve the issue.
“I called on the Education Ministry, DBP and all the relevant parties to convene a meeting to discuss and make a consensus decision on the issue,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby here yesterday. Murugiah was commenting on a reader’s letter published in a Malay daily pertaining to the withdrawal of the literature textbook on Dec 15.
The reader, M Hanafiah A Samad from Muar, said that Murugiah had acted in haste when announcing the withdrawal of the textbook, when it should be done by the Ministry of Education.
Murugiah said the issue of the withdrawal of the textbook was misinterpreted, and hoped it would not be prolonged for fear that it would create other problems. — Bernama