Inaccuracy brings serious harm

History has been made a compulsory subject for Standard 4 students starting this year but the
History textbooks in Chinese and Tamil were found to have revolved around a single race,
while the translation is full of flaws The books were said to have been fully translated from
the !alay textbook, focusing mainly on !alay historical figures, families and lifestyles,
without reflecting the characteristic of a multi"racial society #ven worse, the translation is
incorrect, making the textbooks a joke
Textbooks are important materials to educate the next generation, particularly History
textbooks, as the content can determine the $uality and future of the country %nly accurate
History textbooks can help descendants understand the past while inaccurate history
textbooks would bring disaster to the country The History textbooks for Standard 4 students
revolves around only a single race while ignoring the existence of other races &t seems like it
is trying to instill a wrong concept into our children since they are young How could it help
the young generation to understand the customs of different races, live in harmony and foster
national unity' &naccurate history textbooks could bring severe harm and thus, the
government must take it seriously
Historical knowledge is an important element in national development Studying history
allows the people to understand the difficult journey of founding the country The #ducation
!inistry has made History a compulsory subject to pass in the S(! examination starting
from )*+,, showing the government-s awareness of the importance of history Therefore, the
government should ensure that the History textbooks for primary schools, secondary schools
and universities are written rigorously and flawlessly, while the content must be accurate &n
particular, the textbooks must recognise the contributions of the three major races in national
building, instead of interpreting the national history from the perspective of a single race
&n other words, the job of writing History textbooks is a great responsibility and must be done
by professionals The inaccurate translation found showed the translator-s poor command of
Chinese and lack of common sense The sloppy attitude of the publisher must also be blamed
The intention to make History a compulsory subject for Standard 4 students is to strengthen
their understanding about national history and various races in the country, but the
publisher-s lack of rigor might mislead students and fail the efforts The #ducation !inistry
must correct the errors as soon as possible and come up with a new version of textbooks
catering for Chinese and Tamil primary schools, that can truly meet the country-s diversity
condition and reflect historical truth, using correct grammar and vocabularies of the
languages
&n fact, the #ducation !inistry should first set up a special team formed by History teachers
or scholars of various races to jointly study and determine the content before the books are
written by History teachers or scholars who are proficient in Chinese or Tamil, instead of just
directly translating !alay textbooks into Chinese or Tamil
.rom a positive perspective, re$uiring Standard 4 students to start studying history can
enhance their understanding about the past of the country and the people-s living habits,
while laying the foundation for their knowledge of humanities However, the key still lies on
the accuracy of textbooks in reflecting historical truth &f the content of History textbooks has
been distorted or tempered with, it will fool the next generation while making History lessons
meaningless