The National Writers Association (Pena) is rallying behind the controversial Form 5 literature text Interlok , and is prepared for a collision course with Indian NGOs.

Pena secretary-general Syed Mohd Zakir Syed Othman defended the controversial book - penned by national laureate Abdullah Hussein - saying the protests against the school text arose out of ignorance over the novel's context.

“Those who protest may not have read or understood, and may have had a one sided view. They may protest it as a result of their own political interests,” said Zakir, a writer who goes by the pen name of SM Zakir.

“Pena will object if the government withdraws the use of the novel as a compulsory text. If they (the federation) wants to protest, we will also do the same.”

The issue surfaced first when Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department T Murugiah had registered his protest  after his ministry discussed the novel with Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka.

Yesterday MIC deputy president S Subramaniam   had urged the Education Ministry to review the book’s use as a Form 5 text, saying its contents were sensitive to Indians and would not lead to the desired racial integration intended by its use.

Deputy Education Minister Puad Zarkashi has said the matter is under study and no decision has been made.

The novel has raised the ire of the Federation of Malaysian Indian Organisations, which yesterday threatened nationwide protests and disruptions to the upcoming Tenang by-election.

The federation claimed that the novel painted an inaccurate depiction of the Indian community especially in regard to the caste system, and took offence to the word ‘pariah’ used in the story.

‘We can also demonstrate’

In defence of the book, Zakir told Malaysiakini that the novel had referred to the caste system as background to the characters in the novel, and was based on fact.

NONE He said the book's central theme was the integration of all races in the face of Independence and the adversities of the Japanese occupation, and the communist insurgency.

It involves three central characters of Malay, Chinese and Indian descent, and their interactions.

When asked to comment on the protest threat, Zakir said they were not worried as he feltMalay NGOs and other parties can likewise also do.

“We strongly protest any move to withdraw the novel as a compulsory text. If they want to protest, we will do the same.  

"Do not be too emotional. If seen from a racial point of view, some may view it to be racist. But in reality those accusing the book as such are (the) racists," he said.

Literati to discuss book

Zakir said Pena will also hold several programmes in Kuala Lumpur beginning Jan 8 to discuss the novel’s contents, where novelist Fatimah Busu and other literary figures will discuss the book’s contents.

"They would be able to explain the true context of the novel,” said Zakir.

Abdullah’s novel Interlok has been in use as a literary resource in universities in the 1990s and is to be the Form 5 Bahasa Malaysia literature textbook beginning 2011.

He is the ninth Malaysian to have been awarded the national literary  laureateship.

PPP jumps in

Meanwhile BN component party PPP has called upon the Education ministry to review its decision and withdraw the book, since it has upset the Indian community.

Federal Territories chairperson A Chandrakumanan said in a statement today that members of the Indian community should have been asked to vet the book before it was published.

He added that the ministry had to be “sensitive towards information that is being disseminated to the younger generation” that may present an incorrect representation of the Indian community.

Chandrakumanan urged Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin not to brush the matter aside, lest it be made an issue during the next general election.