Media Statement by ADUN for Tanah Rata and DAPSY Deputy Chairman, Chiong Yoke Kong on 28 February 2021:

UMNO Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki slandered PH for amending the Form 4 History textbook and refused to apologise for his baseless accusation even after the Education Ministry publicly clarified that the amendment was done by the then BN administration.

Given the current political turmoil, UMNO is stubbornly trying to utilise the issue of History textbook amendment to selfishly fan racial sentiments for its own political agenda and benefit. 

Apart from engaging in infighting with Bersatu, one of the component parties of the ruling coalition, UMNO now even desperately muddied the water by dragging the PH into the political fiasco in order to divert people’s attention.

Asyraf accused PH of amending the Form 4 History textbooks when it was the government to glorify communism, by adding content about the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA)’s role in fighting the Japanese army as well as the Malay Nationalist Party (PKMM) in the struggle for independence.

Nevertheless, the former Minister of Education Mazlee Malik has categorically refuted the baseless accusation. In fact, the abovementioned content in the History textbook was amended as early as 2014, which was during the BN administration. Subsequently, the Ministry of Education issued a statement stating that on April 24, 2018, the Form 4 History textbook had been scrutinized, checked, and validated by a panel expert.  

Considering that PH only became the government in May 2018, the remark of the Education Ministry further proved that the Form 4 History textbook was indeed amended during the BN administration.

As a member of the PN ruling coalition, UMNO Youth chief Asyraf shamelessly insisted on slandering PH and fanning racial sentiment by utilising the issue of the History textbook amendment, even after the Education Ministry had clarified the matter.

History is the knowledge of and study of the past. As such, a History textbook should include past events in a true, impartial, and objective manner while avoiding overly objective and one-sided interpretations. This is to ensure that students will have the opportunity to comprehensively learn about and analyse the formation and development of cultures, societies, nations, and so on through learning history.

Unfortunately, the UMNO Youth subjectively and one-sidedly interpreted the History textbook, and later hastily criticized it for propagating communism merely based on part of the history of the resistance against Japanese aggression. 

In fact, such a reckless and baseless accusation had done a disservice to students who were genuinely interested and wished to learn about the history of our country comprehensively.

Given that the country is facing severe challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, the government should obviously focus on dealing with urgent matters concerning the interests of the people, for instance by ensuring that the supplies of all kinds of medical equipment and resources are increased and improved, revitalizing the weak economy and supporting the economic sectors that were severely devastated, protecting the basic rights of the minorities and marginalized groups, and so on.

As a member of the PN coalition, the UMNO Youth should not shamelessly fan racial sentiments and slandered PH with baseless accusations when its own government is failing in dealing with the pandemic. 

Such a move is obviously to divert people’s attention from the various failures of the PN government after coming into power for a year, including endless infighting, incompetence in combatting the pandemic, governance failure, as well as entrenched cronyism.

Given that the evidence was crystal clear, Asyraf should stop inciting hatred between races for his self-interest and political interests. On the contrary, he should make good use of the role of the Youth Wing in the ruling coalition, such as by paying attention to the various problems faced by the rakyat and youth during the pandemic, as well as becoming part of the checks and balances against the PN government’s abuse of power, double standards in law enforcement, and governance failure.