Both Lim Teck Ghee and Collin Abrahams have set out excellent arguments as to why the choice of the novel 'Interlok' as a school text is clearly a mistake.

This is seemingly a view supported by a wide cross section of Malaysian society including component parties of the Government.

The choice of ‘Interlok' appears especially strange, as highlighted by a number of blogs, given that over 100 pages of the original novel including graphic descriptions of rape and suicide were purportedly edited out to make the book more palatable as a school text.

Is ‘Interlok', with now even more proposed editing, footnotes, glossaries and teaching guides then the best that the Education Ministry can provide for the future generation of Malaysians to appreciate Malaysian literature and history?

There are surely many other works by Malaysian laureates such as Adibah Amin, Shahnon Ahmad and Usman Awang which would conceivably be better examples of Malaysian literature than the salacious ramblings of Abdullah Hussain.

For that matter, I have not seen any rational arguments from Gapena, DBP or the 22 NGOs that feel strongly that ‘Interlok' is the best reading material for Malaysian Fifth Formers.

The Education Minister refuses to accept this plain logic and continues to defend the indefensible possibly in an attempt to either placate or outdo the chauvinistic elements within Malaysian society.

We must note that the same Minister also called for stern police action against Hindraf and the HRP rally against racism which among other things was motivated by the Government's lack of responsible leadership on resolving the ‘Interlok' mess.

The police of course willingly obliged and we now have pictures circulating globally of the Malaysian police harassing, strangling and trampling on citizens who were exercising their constitutional rights to peaceful assembly.

The home minister's need to make a statement that the organisers of the rally failed to achieve their objectives reveals the Government's helplessness and desperation in handling the fallout from the ‘Interlok' issue.

In reality, Hindraf and the HRP have clearly won the moral high ground in this particular episode thanks to the combined ineptitude and weak leadership of the Education Ministry, the Home Ministry and of course Bukit Aman which never passes up any opportunity to paint Malaysia in a negative light through its medieval policing tactics and contempt for constitutional rights.

I certainly do not advocate a ban on ‘Interlok': mature readers should read the original unedited version and make up their own minds on its intellectual merits.

However, the prime minister has no other choice but to intervene personally and direct the Cabinet to decide replacing ‘Interlok' with a more appropriate school text that will stimulate young Malaysian minds to think critically about their history, the challenges of building national cohesion and cultivating mutual respect for cultural diversity and heritage.

This requires the prime minister to demonstrate integrity that his administration had made a mistake and the moral courage to do the right thing as after all 1Malaysia is his legacy.

The ball is firmly in your court Mr Prime Minister.