Mat Sabu: Better to include ‘communist Malaysians’ in textbooks

The defence minister says locals who fought for the country's independence should be highlighted rather than communists.

Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu says there is a need to differentiate between the struggles of Malaysians who fought for independence and communists.

KUALA LUMPUR: Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu said it would be better to include contributions of “communist Malaysians” in history books, a term he used to describe a select few who fought for the country’s independence, rather than communists.

“I do not know. If it’s about the struggles of the citizens with the communists, it’s a bit difficult to include. But if it’s about Malaysians who wanted to get independence for our country, that’s a different thing,” Mohamad said at the Parliament lobby today.

Mohamad, better known as Mat Sabu, listed the contributions of Dr Burhanuddin al-Helmy, Ishak Haji Muhammad and Ibrahim Yaacob as examples of those who were wrongly labelled as “communists Malaysians” in the past.

“We have to differentiate the struggles of the Malaysians at the time and the struggles of communists. I don’t think these three people believed in the communist ideology,” he said, adding that they were simply fighting for the country to be independent.

Mohamad’s comments came after a former member of the Communist Party of Malaya said the prevalent narrative in official history books depicting the party as a terrorist organisation should be revisited.

Au Heng Fong told a forum on Saturday this was to reflect the communist party’s contributions in the struggle for independence. He said he hoped this would be easier with the new government in charge.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed today told Parliament a thorough understanding of the matter was required before considerations could be made. “First, we need to understand what communism is,” he said.

“We don’t want to promote communist ideologies, but we need to understand what they mean. Capitalism, democracy, kleptocracy – all that, we need to understand,” he said.

On another matter, Mohamad said his ministry would discuss with the Malaysian Armed Forces if there was a need to send military aid to Lombok, Indonesia, following an earthquake in the area early yesterday morning.

“We are ready to help, but I have to speak with the armed forces first.” -FMT