Pakatan govt manipulated history textbooks? Curriculum revision started in 2014 when BN was in power, Maszlee tells Umno Youth chief

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 — Changes to the current Form Four History Textbook began back in 2014 when Barisan Nasional (BN) was government, former education minister Maszlee Malik said today.

The Simpang Renggam MP was rebutting Umno Youth chief Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki who claimed the syllabus was a deliberate attempt to indoctrinate a new generation of students with the “Malaysian Malaysia” ideology with subtle leftist leanings during Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) less than two-year tenure from May 2018 to February 2020.

In a lengthy statement, Maszlee explained that the new History textbooks under the Secondary School Standard Curriculum (KSSM) replaced the old Secondary School Integrated Curriculum (KBSM) in 2017 after the Education Ministry revamped the subject in 2014.

“This means for textbooks printed in 2019 and used in 2020, the process starts from 2014/2015 again.

“Once again, I want to tell Dr Asyraf Wajdi, the Minister of Education in 2015 is from Umno. Can ask him himself,” Maszlee said pointedly.

He explained that the contents of the current History textbooks follow the Standard Curriculum and Assessment Document (DSKP), which narrates the country’s political, economic and social historical events chronologically.

He added that the Education Ministry had enlisted several local academic experts for the current curriculum, and added that they are still active in their profession. He named them as Professor Shamrahayu Aziz with the International Islamic University of Malaysia; Prof Kamaruzaman Yusoff of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia); Prof Emeritus Abdullah Zakaria Ghazali and Ho Hui Ling who are both from Universiti Malaya; Prof Sivamurugan Pandian from Universiti Sains Malaysia; Prof Rohani Abd Ghani from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia; and Associate Professor Bilcher Bala from Universiti Malaysia Sabah.

“It would be more accurate in fact if Dr Asyraf asked these experts, rather than blindly making accusations against me and PH,” Maszlee said.

Maszlee served as education minister from May 2018 until his forced resignation in January 2020, before the collapse of the PH government.

In a separate statement posted on his Facebook page today, Asyraf accused PH of manipulating history and changing the contents of the Form Four History textbook to condition students into thinking that socialism and communism are not bad as their advocates had contributed to Malaya’s independence.