The Star Online > Nation
Monday October 2, 2006
Call to revise history books
PENANG: Questions about which Malay leader first initiated settlement in Penang is immaterial as long as an amendment is made in the history books that Sir Francis Light was not the founder of the island, said a Malay scholar.
Kassim Ahmad, who taught Malay studies at the University of London in the 1960s, said it was high time the mistakes made in the history books were corrected so that the historical texts were not riddled “with lies, prejudice and twisted facts”.
“We need to document the truth,” said Kassim, who was also a researcher with Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in the early 1960s.
He added that the Education Ministry and the Higher Education Ministry should carry out large-scale studies to unveil historical facts that had been erased and amend errors made in history textbooks.
“Only those who do not know history will argue that Francis Light is the founder of the island,” he said when contacted at his home in Kulim yesterday.
Kassim said this in response to a report in a Malay tabloid that quoted Universiti Sains Malaysia senior history lecturer Dr Mahani Musa as saying that Datuk Keramat could have initiated settlement on the island in 1705.
Dr Mahani had said this in response to Universiti Teknologi Mara lecturer Dr Ahmad Murad Merican’s claim that Datuk Jannaton had founded the island in 1749.
“Arguments over who was the Malay leader who first initiated settlement on the island is important but we need to carry out a thorough study to avoid confusion,” said Kassim, who was also the editor of Hikayat Hang Tuah, which was previously used as a literature textbook.
“The real Malay history started in the 6th century during the Srivijaya era. It expanded to Palembang, and Malacca.
“Malay history existed hundreds of years before Francis Light stepped on Penang island, and before (Sir Stamford) Raffles arrived in Temasek (now Singapore).
“The confusion in Malay history occurred because of internal fights and disunity among the Malays in the past. That is why Britons like Francis Light claimed they had founded Penang,” he said.