The rich history of the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak has not been adequately highlighted in current history textbooks.

DAP parliamentarian for Bandar Kuching Dr Kelvin Yii said this today in a statement to the media.

Yii urged education minister-designate Maszlee Malik to look into this matter, especially on the wealth of contribution by past leaders of Sabah and Sarawak in the formation of Malaysia on Sept 16, 1963, adding that this aspect must be made an important content in history textbooks.

Yii said: “In history textbooks currently being used by Malaysian students there is a dearth of information on the East Malaysian leaders.

“The present content in history textbooks is more ‘Malaya-centric’ and gives the impression that the birth of our sovereign nation was mainly the doing of Malaya’s leaders only,” he said.

He also said he had an informal meeting with Maszlee over the weekend and had raised the issues with him.

“One of the important issues brought up to the minister-designate is the need for more inclusion of the important roles played by Sabah and Sarawak, as well as by Singapore leaders, when the nation first took root.

“The teaching of history in our schools needs to be reformed with the inclusion of narratives on the importance of the Malaysian Agreement 1963 (MA63) and the special rights and status enjoyed by East Malaysians.

“I believe that emphasis also needs to be given to the education of how the different religions came to flourish in both the East Malaysian states, giving a more correct representation of the lifestyle and sociological make-up in these two regions.

Reforming education system a key step

Yii said one of the important steps in regaining our rights under MA63 is to reform the education system so that the people of Malaysia are made aware of such rights and as to how they came about in the first place.

He said the children of Sarawak and Sabah should also grow up knowing the sacrifices and battles fought by East Malaysia’s founding fathers in order to properly appreciate the special rights afforded to our region.

“This will also allow our West Malaysian counterparts to better understand, rather than have a misconception of the cause that we are pursuing,” he added.

Yii said this was an issue that East Malaysians would strongly pursue and follow-up with the relevant ministries.

“We strongly believe in greater national integration and the best way to do that is to build such integration upon accurate historical facts and a better representation of the roles played by Sabah and Sarawak in the formation of Malaysia.

“Other reforms that were discussed include the minister-designate’s plans to inject new methods into our education system – such as shifting the focus away from ranking and examinations.

“We also discussed the need to allow teachers to focus on teaching more, rather than be burdened by more administrative and clerical work,” he said.

According to him, the Harapan coalition is sincere and consistent in its promise to bring needed reforms to uphold the rights of all Malaysians, including the people of Sabah and Sarawak.

“We will keep pursuing what is good for the people and uphold the promises that we made,” Yii added.