For ethnic Indians, Malaysia makes changes to textbook

Kuala Lumpur: References to the Hindu caste system have been removed
from a novel prescribed for school students that offended sections of
Malaysia's ethnic Indian community, says Deputy Prime Minister
Muhyiddin Yassin.

Yassin told parliament on Thursday that the government had agreed to
make 19 amendments to the textbook, "Interlok", replacing phrases and
words deemed sensitive to the Indian community.

Of particular concern was the contentious phrase "kasta pariah"
(pariah caste) which would be replaced with "golongan yang sama" (the
same group).

The term "orang berkulit hitam" (a dark-skinned race) would be dropped
and the word "tuhan" (god) would be replaced with "dewa" (deity).

The amendments were agreed upon by the independent panel set up by the
cabinet in January to look into the matter.

The panel included representatives of the Malaysian Indian Congress
(MIC), the country's largest Indian-based party that is also a
constituent of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN).

Yassin, who is also the education minister, said the other 87 proposed
amendments reviewed by the panel were found to be irrelevant to the
core issue. This included putting the name of the author on the cover
and altering the spelling of a word.

He said all members of the panel, including representatives of the
Indian community, had agreed to insert "errata" in the textbook to
correct or drop phrases that the Indian community found culturally or
religiously offensive.

The minister also said the panel had agreed that Dewan Bahasa dan
Pustaka, as the publisher, would edit the novel accordingly for the
new edition.

At the same time, he said the ministry would prepare a glossary to
explain phrases and concepts contained in the novel.

The minister said with the amendments, the "Interlok" issue had been
resolved. This showed "the spirit of unity, acceptance and mutual
respect of Malaysians, who were willing to come to a compromise," he
added.

He said "Interlok" was a creative work which attempted to depict a
harmonious life in multi-racial Malaya before it gained independence.

He thanked the novel's author Abdullah Hussein for allowing parts of
his book to be amended, the New Straits Times reported.

"Interlok" was written in 1971 in Bahasa Malaysia, the language of the
majority Malays, and focused on the challenges faced by three deprived
families - Malay, Chinese and Indian - in eking out a living.

The inclusion of the novel as a literature textbook for the secondary
school syllabus for this year had sparked a heated debate over its
suitability.

A group also burnt copies of the book.

Concerned groups had called for the novel to be dropped because
several parts in the book were deemed sensitive to the Indian
community.

The government had ruled out withdrawing the book, as demanded by some
Indian groups, but agreed to the amendments. IANS