No Interlok withdrawal order at 80 schools

More than 80 secondary schools have yet receive instructions to withdraw the novel Interlok, distributed to Form 5 students last year, despite a cabinet decision on the matter last month.

Chairperson of the pressure group National Interlok Action Team (Niat), Thasleem Mohamed Ibrahim, said a telephone survey of 100 schools conducted by his group showed that 80 of them have yet to receive any written instruction from district education offices to withdraw the book.

The schools surveyed were from Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Putrajaya and Negri Sembilan.

At a press conference with Ngeow Chow Ying, the vice-chairperson of the civil rights committee of the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, Thasleem said he had received more than 600 complaints from the parents on the matter.

He said the parents quoted numerous reasons given by the schools, among others:

• There was no official letter from the district education office;

• Students were asked to keep Interlok until the new novel named Konserto Terakhir was received from the Education Ministry;

• Students were asked to keep the novel at home for leisure reading; and

• Students need not worry as there won't be questions based on the book in the SPM Bahasa Malaysia paper.

However, Thasleem said, there still were a number of schools  waiting to receive copies of the Konserto Terakhir from the ministry.

On Dec 21, the ministry announced that Konserto Terakhir, also authored by national laureate Abdullah Hussain, would replaceInterlok as the textbook for the Malay literature component for Form Five students from this year.

Education director-general Abd Ghafar Mahmud said the textbook replacement concerned students in Zone Two, covering Negri Sembilan, the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, and Selangor.

[More to follow]