Midnight Thoughts #12: History Subject in Malaysia — National School vs Chinese Independent School

History is important, no doubt. Historian Edward Hallett Carr described a historian work as,

An unending dialogue between the present and the past.

Political leader Marcus Garvey also once said,

A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.

This quote from the Black Nationalist leader very well explained why people should learn history of their own country. They could acknowledge their own roots, how the nation is formed and understand the struggle and sacrifices of their forefathers. Which is why the Malaysia government have set History, apart from Bahasa Malaysia, a compulsory-pass subject for SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia).

Beside History of our own country, students should also learn World History to expand their worldview and understand the formation of their country and cultures. Which is why there should be a balance between our national history and world history in school textbook, specifically secondary school history textbook. 

However, history is a tricky thing. as the author of The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown best put,

History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books, books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napoleon once said, 'What is history, but a fable agreed upon?

There's always an element of bias when history is being wrote, to a certain extend, it could be served as a propaganda for the government. This could be done on history textbooks, where the government can hide the country's dark past from school children. A clear example would be the Nanjing Massacre and Comfort Women, a part of Japanese history, not being taught in schools. In fact, it is scarcely mentioned in their textbooks. 

It's clear that every country has its own problem, or a 'History' problem. Recently, Prof Emeritus Khoo Kay Kim interwove UEC (Unified Examination Certificate) with history and felt  disappointed that some of our Malaysian leaders and youths don't know our own history. Soon after, Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching told the press that a pass in SPM-History is not a requirement to recognize UEC. This prompted Prof Khoo to ask her a history-related question and again expressed his disappointment as people like Teo neglected History.

Students from Chinese Independent Schools do learn History in their classes. Despite what many have believe, Malaysia history is also INCLUDED in the syllabus. The percentage between Malaysia History and World History taught in these schools are 57% and 43% respectively.  

Source: DAPSY

Understandably, a pass in SPM-BM is a must to recognize UEC as the BM in UEC might be 'too easy' and couldn't reflect the curriculum set by the Ministry of Education. But what about the History subject? Is UEC-History less informed/ inferior/ easier than SPM-History? Or SPM-History is the perfect guideline for others to follow? To answer this, it would be best to compare syllabus from both institution. Furthermore, due to language barrier, many don't know, or ignorant to know what is being taught in Chinese Independent Schools. Therefore, this would be a good opportunity to present their history syllabus to the public.

This is just an overview of the syllabus from both institution from Form One, equivalent to 初中一 until Form 6, equivalent to 高中三. It won't be, however, a detailed analysis on certain topics taught in both textbooks as it will take a much longer time to dissect. This could certainly be done in the future.

Before we start, there are three things to know about UEC.

1. UEC is equivalent to A-Levels, which is also the same level as STPM and Matriculation. Therefore, I will also include STPM-History syllabus. Just bear in mind the levels between UEC and SPM (O-Levels) are different but the main focus would still be UEC VS SPM. 
2. In Chinese Independent Schools, History is divided into 3 section (China, World, Malaysia & Southeast Asia) starting Form 5/ 高中一. This is varied from National/ Vernacular Schools where History only divided into 3 section (World, Islamic, Malaysia & Southeast Asia) in Form 6.  
3. History is not a compulsory subject for UEC. Example would be History subject is included in Science A class but it is not included in Account B class. However, students can include History while registering for UEC even though it was not taught in class.   

Form One/ 初中一   

 
Form Two/ 初中二

Form Three/ 初中三

 Form Four/ 高中一

Form Five/ 高中二

Form Six/ 高中三

In conclusion, to say UEC-History does not reflect the 'Malaysia-ness' is completely false. As we look along the syllabus, Malaysian history is being taught in Form One till Three and Form Six. Some major turning points in Malaysia history are not featured in national textbook but Chinese Independent School textbook. May 13th Incident is taught in Form 3/ 初中三 history textbook compared to national syllabus where May 13th is only featured in Form 5/ 高中二 and the cause of the incident is not explained. Students can't get enough information from our national school history textbook even though the racial riot have huge implication on Malaysia's development. In addition to that, based on the side-by-side comparison, UEC-History is more balanced than SPM-History, even more so if compare to the old KBSM module. In the past, students from national or vernacular schools only learned about World History in Form 4.

However, UEC-History by no means is the perfect module that everyone should follow. For example, while the national syllabus featured almost all local resistance against the British, UEC syllabus only featured part of the local resistance. Besides that, the KSSM module, which since replaced the older KBSM module in 2017 looks promising. Students now exposed to World History since Form 1.

In my humble opinion. before UEC recognize by the government, the history textbook should undergo a revision at least once. Also, I would like to suggest all students are compulsory to register the history subject, if they intend to further their studies in public universities or work in government sectors in the future.