MIC chief: ‘Interlok’ must be withdrawn

KUALA LUMPUR: The controversial book Interlok must be withdrawn from the secondary school syllabus, said MIC President Datuk G. Palanivel in a statement Sunday.
“The seven-member panel appointed by MIC had all agreed that the Interlok book should be withdrawn from being used in the schools.”
A closed-door dialogue was held last Tuesday between Education Ministry offcials and the panel, which was formed at the behest of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to discuss the book.
“There was no consensus to say the book is in line with the 1Malaysia spirit. People should not be made to believe that this is in line with the spirit of 1Malaysia.
“If so, we are in for a big setback,” he said.
Palanivel asked the Education Ministry officials not to take the views of the panelists for granted.
“The panelists have expressed their view that they will not meet the Ministry of Education officials again if what they have expressed is being belittled.
Interlok , authored by national laureate Datuk Abdullah Hussain in 1971, was made compulsory Malay literature reading for Form Five students this year.
It chronicles the daily struggles of Malays, Chinese and Indians in the era before Independence, and during the Japanese occupation and communist insurgency.
However, many Indians were offended by inaccuracies and sweeping generalisations in the book such as the description of all immigrants from South India as people from the “pariah” caste.
Palanivel said that MIC backed the panel’s findings and hoped that the Education Ministry “understands and appreciates the wishes and feelings of our community and comes up with a quick and firm decision on this matter.”
“This is not a matter of ego or loss of face. There is far more at stake and we do want to politicise this issue.
“Writings which affect the feelings of any group in Malaysia should not be introduced as part of the school syllabus.
“Putting additional footnotes, glossaries and guidelines is not going to help resolve the matter,” he added.
“Let us not plant any seed of prejudice in our young ones. It is too sensitive and risky to expose such writings to our school going children,” he said.
The MIC had earlier called for the novel to be taken out of the curriculum, saying that the word “pariah” was a sensitive topic among Indians.

tunku : i have read interlok and i don't find it as racist or insulting the indian community in malaysia. in fact it is good novel for all malaysian. mic should not be too sensitive about it.so do all the indians.if the indians feel too insulted, why they are not saying anything to azmin for saying it loud to gobalakrishnan as a pariah? why no demos? this is all about politics and the author of the book and the students becomes a victim of it. the government should listen to majority not minority on this matter.