Is another right-wing linguist trying to politicise history with “Malay civilisation older than China’s”?

 

AVID political commentator Prof James Chin has exposed the antic of yet another right-centric academician who “could be a class above” the controversial International Islamic University Malaysia’s (IIUM) Arabic linguistic specialist-turned-historian without credential Prof Dr Solehah Yaacob.

The inaugural director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania is referring to Dr Bazrul Bahaman, a senior lecturer at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris’ (UPSI) Faculty of Language and Communication, who recently staked a claim that “the Malay history is actually older than that of China’s and the rest of the world”.

“That’s why recent studies state that the Malay world civilisation is, first of all, older than China’s in all forms,” the 61-year-old Kampar, Perak-born but grew up in a Malay village in Mentakab, Pahang academician told a podcast hosted by right wing publisher Helmi Effendy.

“Because it is supposedly too old, evidence is hard to come by.”

It has generally been acknowledged that the top five oldest civilisations in human history are Mesopotamia (c. 4000–3500 BCE); Ancient Egypt (c. 3100 BCE); the Indus Valley Civilisation (c. 3300 BCE); Norte Chico/Caral-Supe in Peru (c. 3000 BCE); and that of Ancient China (c. 2000 BCE).

Reacting to the claim of Bazrul who first pursued his tertiary studies at the Riau Islamic University’s Faculty of Education, Chin who is also a Senior Fellow at the Jeffrey Cheah Institute for Global Studies at Sunway University retorted:

If you thought “Professor” Solehah was extreme, you should meet this group of people.

These people are no lunatics; they run a sophisticated operation that includes selling books promoting alternative history. The young man (Helmi) interviewing the “historian” has written more than 10 books about the greatness of Malay civilisation.

Every society has such people but they’re usually not part of the mainstream. In Malaysia’s case, it might be different because of the state-supported ideology.

The senior research associate at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman’s (UTAR) Tun Tan Cheng Lock Centre for Social and Policy Studies (TCLI) further jibed:

The only contemporary world comparison I can think of is Russia under (current President Vladmir) Putin’s state project to revive Russian history with falsehoods; eg the claim that the Russian empire once extended across most of Europe, including Ukraine.

Is Malaysia heading that way towards a narrative in which Malay civilisation extends beyond Nusantara (the Malay Archipelago) and into Roman Europe and the Americas?

The theory goes that Malay seafarers were the first to sail to present-day Hawaii. I let you decide.

Aside from Chin, SEA Heritage & History – the popular history and cultural community platform focused on sharing the rich past, archaeology, vintage archives and traditions of Southeast Asia – also took a swipe at Bazrul’s claim with by insisting “WHERE’S THE EVIDENCE?”

“If a civilisation is claimed to be far older than China, the next question shouldn’t be ‘Why is the evidence so difficult to find?’,” it aptly asked in a FB post.

“Being ancient is not an excuse to lower the standard of proof. In fact, the bigger the claim, the stronger the evidence must be.”

The Jakarta-based history/cultural site went on to list “archaeology. epigraphy, manuscripts, stratigraphy, linguistics, DNA, artifacts and scientific analysis” as some of the necessary evidence to substantiate the claim of Bazrul who holds a doctoral thesis in “Political Culture in Malay Historiographical Texts”.

“History is not a competition to see who is the oldest. History is about who has the strongest evidence. So let’s debate with evidence, not assumptions. If it really is older than China, show us the evidence!”

Well, the request by the administrator of SEA Heritage & History elicited mocking of sorts directed at the rightist UPSI academician who is dubbed a modern-day penglipur lara (storyteller). 

 - Focus Malaysia