Jawatan Kuasa Khas Sejarah Malaysia

Muhyiddin Meets Committee On History Textbook, Curriculum
Tuesday, 03 May 2011 14:28
PUTRAJAYA -- Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin today met members of the newly-formed special committee to study the History curriculum and textbooks for secondary school. The committee, whose members were appointed today, is headed Malaysian Historical Society chairman Omar Mohd Hashim while the Dean of Universiti Teknologi Mara's Administrative Sciences and Policy Studies Faculty Prof Dr Ramlah Adam is the deputy chairperson. Other members of the committee are historian Prof Emeritus Dr Khoo Kay Kim of University of Malaya's (UM) Department of History; archaeologist Prof Emeritus Dr Nik Hassan Suhaimi Nik Abdul Rahman of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia; Prof Dr Danny Wong Tze Ken of UM's Department of History; Prof Dr Ranjit Singh a/l Darshan Singh of Universiti Utara Malaysia's College of Law, Government and International Studies; Head of Universiti Malaysia Sabah's Department of History Associate Prof Dr Ismail Ali; Assistant Prof Dr Shamrahayu Abdul Aziz of International Islamic University Malaysia's Law Faculty; Dr Neilson Ilan Mersat who is the Deputy Dean of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak's Social Sciences Faculty, and Dr Benedict Topin of the Kadazandusun Cultural Association. The meeting took place at the Education Ministry, here. In a statement, the ministry said the committee was set up to help look into the content of secondary school's History curriculum and textbooks to ensure they were able to nurture patriotism and loyalty to the country among students and strengthen their identity as Malaysians. In line with the move to make History as a compulsory core subject, the ministry said, the country's history should be taught so that students were able to understand and appreciate the spirit of unity and solidarity as Malaysians. "We hope to realise this objective in line with the policy to make History a must-pass subject in Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination from 2013," it said. The committee was appointed by Muhyiddin in his capacity as the Education Minister and has a year to complete its task which covers four aspects. They are: to determine the direction in the development of History curriculum to meet current needs and future challenges; to study the suitability of existing curriculum and textbooks in terms of whether they give emphasis to unity and patriotism; to look into the accuracy of facts in History textbooks; and to come up with a report to the Education Ministry. (Bernama)