Representatives of the Indian Malaysian community and the Education Ministry met for three-and-a-half hours today to discuss prevailing concern over the novel ‘Interlok’, but there is already some suspicion that the government will not budge from its decision.

The representatives were Hindu Sangam president RS Mohan Shan, former Universiti Malaya Indian Studies department head S Singaravelu, current head Associate Professor S Kumaran, MIC education bureau chairperson T Marimuthu, Aru Nagappan, SV Lingam and former educationist Krishna Bhagavan.

It is learnt that the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere, and that the cabinet will make the final decision.

A source who attended the meeting said the representatives faced ministry officials, university lecturers and literary figures from the National Literary Association (Gapena), who vehemently defended the use of the book.

“This resulted in the MIC representatives feeling overwhelmed due to the strong showing of the Malay literary figures and university lecturers there, which we did not expect,” the source said.

NONEConcern was reiterated about the decision to place the book on the Form Five literature reading list, asking that it be replaced to prevent possible ridicule for Indian students over the inclusion of derogatory terms.

Deputy Education Minister Mohd Puad Zarkashi, who chaired the meeting, said the book should be looked at for its literary value and that it should be viewed as achieving integration of all races in Malaysia.

However, he acknowledged that some words may be deemed offensive including ‘pariah’ which the Indian community has found objectionable.

The source said one of the Indian representatives had told the panel that ‘pariah’ and other words once used for low-caste people have been declared unlawful in India.

“Hence, teaching this to Malaysian students who are 16 and 17 years old may not be suitable now. It would only rekindle what is not prevalent today. In effect it may create further tensions among students,” said the source.

Some 120,000 copies of ‘Interlok’ have been distributed and there is worry about the potential repercussions, the source said.

As the book is being used in the central area, covering Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Negri Sembilan, a suggestion was made to replace it with one of the texts used in other states.

Both sides of the argument
 
Concern was also expressed about how the teachers will handle the subject and about the teaching methodology.

Using the SMK Taman Tasik Ampang case yesterday as an example of how the best intentions could go awry, the source said teachers may not be able to deal with the content of the novel.

Yesterday, school principal Zaini Mohd Zin admitted to having mentioned the  word 'pariah' in a speech, in referring to the book, but said this was reported out of context. She then apologised to the Indian students.

The source said that, if a school principal could run into such problems, then it would be far more difficult for teachers and students to grapple with the nuances of the content.

The Indian representatives further referred to the repeated use of the word ‘pendatang’ in describing Chinese and Indian Malaysians.

“It may be true of our ancestors but we were all born - and grew up - in Malaysia. So it is not right to continue to refer to the Indian and Chinese communities as pendatang. This is also against the concept of 1Malaysia,” the source pointed out.

Another point was that, in the novel, the family of a character named Maniam is portrayed “very badly” and that this generalises the Indian community in a “negative” way.

Gapena's representatives spoke at length about the literary value of the book and about the author’s intentions, said the source.

University lecturer Zainal Kling defended ‘Interlok’ on the basis that the words deemed offensive comprise just seven or eight out of the 85,000 in the novel.

Hence, he asked for the book to be considered in its entirety, said the source.