MARCH 8 ― History has been made a compulsory subject for Standard 4 students starting this year but the History textbooks in Chinese and Tamil were found to have revolved around a single race, while the translation is full of flaws. The books were said to have been fully translated from the Malay textbook, focusing mainly on Malay historical figures, families and lifestyles, without reflecting the characteristic of a multi-racial society. Even worse, the translation is incorrect, making the textbooks a joke.

Textbooks are important materials to educate the next generation, particularly History textbooks, as the content can determine the quality and future of the country. Only accurate History textbooks can help descendants understand the past while inaccurate history textbooks would bring disaster to the country. The History textbooks for Standard 4 students revolves around only a single race while ignoring the existence of other races. It seems like it is trying to instil a wrong concept into our children since they are young. How could it help the young generation to understand the customs of different races live in harmony and foster national unity? Inaccurate history textbooks could bring severe harm and thus, the government must take it seriously.

Historical knowledge is an important element in national development. Studying history allows the people to understand the difficult journey of founding the country. The Education Ministry has made History a compulsory subject to pass in the SPM examination starting from 2013, showing the government’s awareness of the importance of history. Therefore, the government should ensure that the History textbooks for primary schools, secondary schools and universities are written rigorously and flawlessly, while the content must be accurate. In particular, the textbooks must recognise the contributions of the three major races in national building, instead of interpreting the national history from the perspective of a single race.

In other words, the job of writing History textbooks is a great responsibility and must be done by professionals. The inaccurate translation found showed the translator’s poor command of Chinese and lack of common sense. The sloppy attitude of the publisher must also be blamed.

The intention to make History a compulsory subject for Standard 4 students is to strengthen their understanding about national history and various races in the country, but the publisher’s lack of rigor might mislead students and fail the efforts. The Education Ministry must correct the errors as soon as possible and come up with a new version of textbooks catering for Chinese and Tamil primary schools, that can truly meet the country's diversity condition and reflect historical truth, using correct grammar and vocabularies of the languages.

In fact, the Education Ministry should first set up a special team formed by History teachers or scholars of various races to jointly study and determine the content before the books are written by History teachers or scholars who are proficient in Chinese or Tamil, instead of just directly translating Malay textbooks into Chinese or Tamil.

From a positive perspective, requiring Standard 4 students to start studying history can enhance their understanding about the past of the country and the people's living habits, while laying the foundation for their knowledge of humanities. However, the key still lies on the accuracy of textbooks in reflecting historical truth. If the content of History textbooks has been distorted or tempered with, it will fool the next generation while making History lessons meaningless.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.