PH to offer new syllabus on Sabah history

KOTA KINABALU: The Pakatan Harapan election manifesto will include a promise to improve the coverage of Sabah in the history syllabus for schools, according to Sabah PH secretary Mustapha Sakmud.

He told FMT the coalition believed the current syllabus was too Malaya-centric and did not contain enough material to enable Sabahans to adequately learn the history of their state.

“PH plans to insert a special section on Sabah history,” he said. “Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) will be empowered to do the research and roll out the first edition within three years.” But a task force would be set up to oversee the project and propose the new syllabus to the cabinet, he added.

He noted that the Sabah history currently being taught was basically limited to developments surrounding the formation of Malaysia.

He said the scholars working on the syllabus would be encouraged to dig deep into Sabah’s history and divide it into phases.

“There are several versions of Sabah history and our historians must be in a position to verify each of these versions instead of leaving the interpretation to politicians,” he added.

Mustapha described Sabah’s history as “rich with stories that need to be told to the new generation to correct the misrepresentation that has often been fed into the minds of youngsters”.

For example, he said, not many knew that the first British colony in the region was Pulau Balambangan in Kudat.

“UMS historian Baszley Bee Basrah Bee, in his working paper, has stated that Pulau Balambangan became a British colony in 1773. This was well before Penang (1786), Singapore (1819) and Malacca (1824).

“However, the colony was short-lived as it was continuously attacked by a Sulu warrior by the name of Datu Tating.”

He said historical events and developments must be put into context if one wanted to understand how Sabah became a melting pot of races, religions and cultures.

“Knowing our history will bring us together as a cohesive nation and place Sabah as an equal partner in nation building,” he added. -FMT