Prof Khoo: I didn't say we can't accept legends

INTERVIEW Historian Khoo Khay Kim clarified that he never said we should totally discount “unproven” legends like Hang Tuah or Hang Li Po, but wants official history to focus on more relevant historical figures instead.“I didn’t say we cannot accept legends and myths, if society has already accepted myths for decades, it has became tradition and we usually do not question it,” he told Malaysiakini in an interview yesterday.

“(My views were) not to reject the legends, but at least if we want to include them in texts, we must say, that according to legend, it was said that there was an admiral named Hang Tuah. If we clarify that it is a legend, then there is no problem.”What he is against, he said, is when such legendary figures are inserted into historical texts without such caveats.

He clarified that his criticism was levelled more towards those who had popularised the names of legendary figures like Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat, to the detriment of actual historical figures whose contribution to Malaysia were well proven.“They do not know who was the first Malay doctor, the first female Malay doctor, they don’t know. Who was the first Malay judge? Don’t know. Who was the first Malay to be appointed to head the Sanitary Board? Don’t know.

“Are these not more important?” asked Khoo.He also bemoaned the fact that the names Hang Tauh and Hang Jebat are being given more prominence in naming conventions for roads and buildings in Kuala Lumpur when the duo had nothing to do with the local history of the capital city.

“Why is it in Kuala Lumpur, they have names like Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat, when those more prominent historically like the leader of the Mendalings who first founded Kuala Lumpur. You ask the people of Kuala Lumpur? They don’t know.

The name of the leader of the Mendalings, Khoo said, are some of the “missing content”, much as to the identity of Raja Chulan, which he claimed no one from Kuala Lumpur would know despite the historical figure’s local importance.Asked if he will press for legends to be dropped from the future school syllabus, he said that whether or not to do so is not the problem.

‘What is important is what is not there’

“To drop it or not is not important. What it is important is what is not there. When was the automobile introduced to Malaysia? Don’t know. It is not in textbooks. When was electric power brought here? Don’t know. Not in the books either. When did the first steamship arrive in Malaysia? Don’t know. No one knows.”

He lamented that it is sad that if foreigners wanted to know about Malaysian history, most Malaysians would can only laugh and say they too do not know.“We cannot allow our education system to produce ignorant people... Can a historian stay silent when the people don’t know about it?

“As an historian, I am always conducting research. If there are things that the rakyat do not know or do not understand, it is my duty to inform them.”Quizzed about those who still insist on defending the emphasis on such legendary figures, Khoo asked them to focus on actual persons who have made real contributions to Malaysia.

“And I added that to pick figures to be their role model for the current age, please pick those who have made real contributions.“It was not easy to be the first Malay to be inducted into the Malayan Civil Service, or the first female Malay doctor, who name is Saloma, like Saloma (the singer) but not that Saloma,” Khoo related.He agreed that they should focus more on these more recent and actual historical figures to honour the hard work and effort of those who were the pioneers of Malaysian excellence.

Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/187170