INTERVIEW In this final part of a three-part interview, Tamil language activist Thasleem Mohd Ibrahim sounds the alarm that the battle to keep Interlok out of schools appears to just in hibernation.
He said that this is because despite numerous requests the government has yet to give an assurance that Interlok will be kept out of the Malay literature syllabus in schools.
Thasleem, who is National Indian Rights Action Team (Niat)
chairperson, said he has also written to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak,
Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and MIC president G Palanivel asking for
written commitment on the matter.The letters were despatched in mid-January this year, but no response has been forthcoming so far.
"What we heard - and I don't know if this is reliable as it has not been confirmed - that as far as three months ago, the books collected back were not destroyed," he told Malaysiakini in an interview last week.
Niat, then known as the National Interlok Action Team, had campaigned since January last year for the novel to be removed from the Malay literature syllabus because of its racist undertones.
The cabinet then decided that Interlok would no longer be used as the Form 5 textbook beginning this school year, replacing it with another novel, Konserto Terakhir.
"The new book is the one they used from 2000 to 2010. They are using the previous book again, so what is going to stop them from using Interlok again, at some point in the future?
"Why is the minister so hesitant to say that these books have been destroyed?" asked the Tamil education activist.
Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/203380
No comments:
Post a Comment