Is 'Official' Malaysian History Fabricated?
When I was in school, we were taught that Yap Ah Loy founded KL, Sybil Kathigesu was a heroine who sacrificed her life for the nation and non-Malays played a crucial role in gaining independence.
Now it seems that all this has been supplanted with fabricated stories of Malay heroes and heroines, who if we are to believe these badly told modern-day fairy tales, are the only ones who had anything to do in our history. Non-Malays have been relegated to the sidelines to clap, applaud, praise and be amazed at the wonderful Malays who without the help of anyone gained independence and made Malaysia into what it is today!
Come on. Even the most fanatical and 'nationalistic' Malay is not going to buy that much of exaggerated self-importance. Are the Malays so insecure that they have to be fed fictitious tales of accomplishments to feel that they are 'in-charge'? In fact it is an insult to the Malays to resort to this sort of falsifying history and accord to them that portion of achievements that they have not contributed to and don't deserve.
What prompted this post was a report in the NST
For a 'free-for-all' feedback from mostly non-Malays on this topic read this report in Malaysia Today
Now it seems that all this has been supplanted with fabricated stories of Malay heroes and heroines, who if we are to believe these badly told modern-day fairy tales, are the only ones who had anything to do in our history. Non-Malays have been relegated to the sidelines to clap, applaud, praise and be amazed at the wonderful Malays who without the help of anyone gained independence and made Malaysia into what it is today!
Come on. Even the most fanatical and 'nationalistic' Malay is not going to buy that much of exaggerated self-importance. Are the Malays so insecure that they have to be fed fictitious tales of accomplishments to feel that they are 'in-charge'? In fact it is an insult to the Malays to resort to this sort of falsifying history and accord to them that portion of achievements that they have not contributed to and don't deserve.
What prompted this post was a report in the NST
For a 'free-for-all' feedback from mostly non-Malays on this topic read this report in Malaysia Today
posted by The Malaysian. at 7/18/2006 11:59:00 AM
3 Comments:
Well, as they say, history is written by the victors. What's happening is a more toned-down version of George Orwell's 1984 - re-writing history to fit the status quo.
Looks nice! Awesome content. Good job guys.
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The way we keep revising history, our universities should consider keeping history books in the sections of the libraries reserved for periodicals. Anyway, some years down the road our history will probably record that Malaysia has sent two astronauts into space, never mind that we are paying the Russians RM90 million to send these tourists up at the expense of our tax payers.
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