When your grandfather and his contemporaries went to primary school, they learnt that a Hindu prince from Palembang, Parameswara, founded Malacca in the 15th century. They also learnt about Admiral Cheng Ho and Princess Hang Li Poh who married one of the Sultans.
We also learnt the exploits of Hang Jebat who was forced to duel with his best mate – Hang Kasturi. We also learnt about the kingdom of Langkasuka in north Malaya which encompassed Thai territory.
These days, some of these facts are missing from our history textbooks. For some reason or other, primary school children are being denied the right to learn the truth. History, it is said, cannot be changed. Whatever happened or took place, cannot be erased.
Omitting these events from textbooks will not change history but will prevent young people from knowing historical facts. That is why I wrote this note to you because the fear of the history of our nation for the year 2020 being omitted from your history books is real.
We have in our system over-zealous educationists and policymakers who want to dictate what you should know and what should be kept away from you – even if it is the truth.
The year 2020 was the annus horribilis for Malaysia and its citizens. We were not spared the Covid-19 virus and many lives were lost in the pandemic. For long periods, Malaysians were compelled to work from home when the movement control order (MCO) and its variants were in place. Jobs were lost, productivity dropped and many businesses folded.
It was also a year when caution was thrown to the winds and turned out to be one of the darkest moments in Malaysian history. It started in February with the “Sheraton Move”, with some parliamentarians within the ruling coalition – Pakatan Harapan – abandoning their comrades and jumping ship to set up a “backdoor” government.
Muhyiddin Yassin, who was appointed prime minister by this renegade group, then appointed a large group of 70 ministers and deputies from among the 113 MPs who backed him. To ensure that the remaining 43 MPs stayed loyal, he enticed them with positions to various government agencies and government-linked companies.
All such posts came with hefty financial rewards and there were even two envoys with ministerial status. To appease the warring groups, no deputy prime minister was appointed and instead, Muhyiddin appointed four senior ministers.
But this loose arrangement was never the glue intended to hold together individuals with diverse views and ideologies. In between all these, Najib Abdul Razak, who was prime minister from 2009 to 2018, was convicted on abuse of power and fraud charges. His then deputy, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who was the president of Umno, faced criminal charges for events that took place during their tenure.
On May 18, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong delivered his address to Parliament, which is by convention, followed by a debate. But after His Majesty left, Parliament was adjourned. On July 13, the incumbent Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, Mohamad Ariff Md Yusoff, was ousted and was replaced by Azhar Azizan Harun.
Najib was convicted in July and sentenced to 12 years in jail but the sentence was stayed, pending his appeal. There were fears that other leaders who were facing charges would endure the same fate. And the war drums started beating against Muhyiddin.
But it was just a minor distraction - grumblings over allocation of cabinet portfolios within the “backdoor” government only grew louder. Suddenly, on Sept 25, the nation was startled by an announcement by the opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim that he had the support of the majority of MPs and announced that the government of Muhyiddin had collapsed.
Anwar (photo, right) then sought an audience with the King (photo, left), who was unable to see him because of health issues for which His Majesty was admitted to the National Heart Institute.
While some saw Anwar as “crying wolf again” (he made a similar announcement in 2008), others said that there was dissent within Umno and many had switched their allegiance to Anwar.
On Oct 13, Anwar supposedly presented a list of 120 MPs who were supporting him and for a change, many took him seriously. But with the number of Covid-19 cases rising, Muhyiddin had two battles to confront – the threat of a no-confidence vote being the other.
Muhyiddin thought he had found the perfect solution to thwart both. After consulting his fellow ministers, he sought an audience with the King to declare a state of emergency which would, among others, suspend Parliament.
The King, after consulting his brother Sultans, refused the request but with a firm diktat – stop the politicking and work for the betterment of the people.
Those who had sharpened their knives, hoping for a kill, were forced to put them back into their sheaths while middlemen and cronies, who had hoped that they backed the right horse, were disappointed.
Even in victory, the politicking did not end. Harsh words were exchanged, differing views were expressed, and the rakyat were left with nothing to be happy about. A silver lining on the horizon was not expected till the year's end.
R NADESWARAN is not a grandfather yet, but he believes that our students should be taught history without the facts being distorted. Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com - Mkini
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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