Resorting to cost-cutting measures, the Malaysian
government has asked teachers to manually change the words and phrases in a controversial textbook which had contents considered offensive by the minority ethnic Indian community.
Deputy Education Minister Mohd Puad Zarkashi said the process was being done manually by teachers instead of reprinting the book, adding that only nine pages in the book were affected and it would not be burden on the teachers.
The books were recalled from students last week to allow for the amendments to be made.
The novel, Interlok, by national laureate Abdullah Hussein, is the text literature for
senior students.
Months after announcing amendments to the controversial text book the Malaysian government has initiated cost-cutting measures by asking the teachers to manually change the words and phrases.
The text book, which was adapted from a well known Malay novel "Interlok" written several years ago, stirred a storm of emotions among the ethnic Indian community which objected to words like "pariah" used the story.
It said that pariah connoted a caste system which the minority community says does not exist in Malaysia.
A Panel was set up by the government after Ngos, the minority ethnic Indian and Chinese community in Malaysia protested over the decision to put up the book as senior school curriculum reading.
The panel suggested some amendments which was accepted by the government including the deletion of the word "pariah".
Multi-ethnic Malaysia has a majority population of 60 percent Muslim Malays while
ethnic Chinese, who are mostly Buddhists and Christians, form 60 25 per cent and ethnic
Indians, mostly Hindus, form eight percent of the population.
There was no protest over the novel written by the country's national laureate several years ago.
However, criticisms and protests started when it was decided to make the book a part of the high school curriculum recently.
Only schools in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Selangor and Negri Sembilan states are affected.
Puad said adhesive cut-outs, supplied by the ministry to the schools, were being used to make the amendments.
Saying it would be easier this way, he said reprinting would be a waste as the whole book was not being changed.
Puad said it should not be too much for the teachers to handle, adding that it was part of a teacher's responsibility and did not require hard labour.
Puad also said representatives from the textbook
division would be monitoring the amendments to be made.
Among the words and phrases replaced are "kasta pariah" (pariah caste) with "go -longan yang sama" (the same group) and "tuhan" (god) replaced with "d e wa" (de ity).
A group of Non-governmental Organisations had urged the Malaysian Government to drop "Interlok" which had evoked criticism from the ethnic Indian community, from the high school curriculum saying that the book portrayed a "negative stereotyping" of the two minority races in the country.
The lesson guide states that the theme of Interlok is the integration of three main races –
Malay, Chinese and Indian – in Malaysia and the challenges they face in order to live together in an independent and sovereign country.
However, some defenders of interlok have claimed that the main characters in the book are mere individuals who cannot be extrapolated as representatives of their race.