RESPONDING TO REMARK: Dr Zakri (seated second right) shows the press statement at the conference. Also seen are (seated from left) Dr Zainal, Prof Dr Raduan Che Rose, Prof Datuk Dr Ramiah Adamn, (standing from left) Prof Datuk Dr Ibrahim Komoo, Prof Mohd Sahar Yahya, Prof Dr Zakaria Kasa and Prof Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Abu Bakar. — Bernama photo
PUTRAJAYA: Communist insurgents and members of Malayan leftist movements cannot be described as independence fighters, according to the National Council of Professors.
The aim of these groups is to do away with the Malay system of government and replace it with a republic, said Prof Datuk Dr Zainal Kling, head of the History, Heritage and Socio-culture Cluster at Sultan Idris Teaching University.
The nationalists had first wanted to rule Malaya but had colluded with the Communist Party of Malaya in order to realise their objectives, he told reporters here.
“We cannot accept that as a struggle (for independence), because they wanted to wrest powers illegitimately.”
Zainal spoke at a news conference with the council’s chairman, Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Zakri Abdul Hamid, and other council members, in response to a remark last month by PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu Sabu who claimed that communist insurgents who attacked the Bukit Kepong police station in Muar, Johor, were heroes, not the policemen who defended the station, whom he said were working for the British.
Zainal also disputed the notion that Malaya had been under colonisation for 400 years.
Malaya was only under colonisation during the Malayan Union era between 1946 and 1948, he said, and during the Japanese occupation.
Only three Malayan states were colonised, namely Singapore, Melaka and Penang. The rest were protected states, he said.
Zainal said the council, which represents 1,600 professors, seeks only to correct any misinterpretation or misrepresentation of facts, and was not making any political statement.
He said the council, together with the Sultan Idris Teaching University, would organise a workshop next month to discuss issues raised by Mat Sabu, with participation by historians from this country and abroad.
Council member Prof Datuk Dr Ramlah Adam reminded people to get information from sources such as well-recognised books, and not accept as fact everything written on the Internet.
“The controversy now is not about any factual error but due to the way it is interpreted,” Ramlah said.
“The person interpreting it has his own agenda.” — Bernama