A meeting was held at the Education Ministry in Putrajaya today on the controversial Interlok issue, attended by 22 people who included six MIC-appointed representatives.

Deputy Education Minister Mohd Puad Zarkashi chaired the meeting, which lasted for about four hours from 9am.

Dr Puad Zarkashi Mohd Puad (right) told reporters later that the meeting proceeded smoothly in a cordial atmosphere and the participants discussed the matter in an intellectual manner.

Interlok , a novel on the integration of the Malays, Chinese and Indians in then pre-independence Malaya written by national laureate Abdullah Hussain, had sparked controversy as it allegedly contained words deemed sensitive to the Indian community.

The book is being used as a required text for Malay literature in Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) beginning this year.

Mohd Puad said the ministry officials, including director-general of education Abdul Ghafar Mahmud, listened to the reasoning of all quarters comprising the representatives of the MIC-appointed panel, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and academicians.

"We proceeded with the dialogue in a cordial and intellectual manner without getting emotional because the ultimate objective as agreed upon was to come up with suitable recommendations and a solution to the issue," he said.

Cabinet to get report

He said a report on the meeting would be handed over to Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin later today for presentation to the cabinet.

He also said that the contents of the report could not be revealed as yet because only the cabinet could make a decision on the matter.

Mohd Puad said that at the outset of today's meeting, the ministry officials explained how the novel had been selected as the required text for Malay literature for Form Five students.

"It had gone through a tight process. We also scrutinised the rationale and justification for selection of the novel, considering both internal and external factors as well as in terms of the plot and so on.

"This was elaborated by our officials," he said.

The six MIC-appointed representatives are Malaysia Hindu Sangam president RS Mohan Shah, head of the Indian Studies Department of Universiti Malaya S Kumaran, MIC education bureau chairperson T Marimuthu, former Education Ministry officer G Krishnabagwan, former president of Malaysia Hindu Sangam A Nagappan Arumugam and Tamil Youth Bell Club president SV Lingam.

Others at the meeting included representatives from the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), Federation of National Writers Associations (Gapena) and National Writers Association.

- Bernama