23 Million Malaysians and one History Department

I got this from Sun2surf.com today. We only have one history department in the whole country? I was truly shocked.

Educators neglecting history: Don
Llew-Ann Phang

KUALA LUMPUR: History is all but forgotten, laments historian Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Khoo Kay Kim who is concerned history has reached a sorry level.

What is taught in schools, he said, does not cultivate harmony in society.

Commenting on the lack of interest in history, especially on the part of the government, he said: "We have only one history department left in all of our 17 public universities and that is located in Universiti Malaya."

Commenting on plans by the Higher Education Ministry to introduce ethnic relation studies in universities, Khoo said: "History is knowledge and information ... You cannot introduce ethnic studies if children do not know history.

"And by history I do not mean what is taught in schools, as what is being taught there is only for examination purposes," he said after the official launch of the book The Foochows of Sitiawan: A Historical Perspective on Wednesdday.

"When Malaysians do not know and understand one another, how do you foster ethnic relations in society?" asked Khoo.

A lot of problems result from ignorance of each other, he said, and called for a new approach to teach history that does not lean towards politics.

"History now only involves political development. We should not only look for heroes but we also need to understand society," he said.

Khoo said the government should recognise the need for a revamp.

"Our prime minister said he would introduce a revolution but to date, I do not detect any major changes which are likely to produce results," he said, adding that education must address society's problems.

"I am always making suggestions on the issue, but they have never been taken up," he said.

Citing the rise in crime as an example, Khoo said: "People commit murder so easily, but the question is why. Arrests alone will not solve the problem. We need to study and find the solution but we are not doing it."

During the book launch, Khoo commended its author Shih Toong Siong on his effort, describing the publication as timely. He appealed for more sponsorship for historical research, saying "there is much to be learnt about people in our country, but so little is known so far."

Comments

[Anom]

Ooo dear, and all along I thought there are so many people around who love History so much. Someone definitely need to do something about this... Ha ha talking about History, there was a time back in my A-Levels days when I argued heatedly with my Deputy Headmistress how a historian makes a better Prime Minister than a medical doctor! With a benefit of hindsight, I think she was right!

[fazu]

She was right? Which side of the argument did she take? It would really be interesting to know her arguments... ;)

Yes I think something needs to be done about it. In fact people like you and me could do something about this in our own way. This blog was supposed to lead to something that will help propagate appreciation of Malaysian culture and history. I'm still thinking how best to approach it... (plus, since I'm hardly an authority on the subject, I think I'd better give it some careful thought)

But watch out for history-related entries in the future!

[ngising]

Interesting subject. Humans tend to repeat the same mistakes over and over again which explained our inherent nature to ignore anything history-related. We, Malaysians, "mudah lupa" kind of breed.

Which is why I think your blog should get more exposure. Why not post a ping to http://www.petalingstreet.org/ ?

[Anom]

Oh, she was on the Historian side, her being an Historian....

I don't think she was particularly pleased with Mahathir, she sounded very much an old Labour, the Barbara-Castle-Labour... so you can guess her opinion of Mahathir...

[fazu]

More exposure? Who? What? My blog? You can't be serious. As things stand there is not much here to expose ;)Anyway, thanks for the tip! I will go to petalingstreet.org when I think this blog is ready.

I agree with you about Malaysians' collective amnesia. Hence it is important that those who still remember speak, write, sing, act and take action to remind the others of all things forgotten and hidden, so that our children and our children's children will not wake up one morning finding themselves to be a people without roots and ancient memories.