Revision of our nation’s history was necessary due to versions yet to be uncovered, but this does not apply to the history of Independence including the Bukit Kepong incident, said the Education Ministry.

NONEMinister of Higher Education Khaled Nordin (right) said this was because the struggle for Independence struggle took place recently and was abundant in points of reference.

"More versions of history need to be unearthed, but this does not mean twisting historical facts like in Bukit Kepong...

"(The Independence struggle) is something which many went through and know about, and there are many writings on it compared to what had happened in the 11th and 12th century,"  said Khaled at UTM's Kuala Lumpur campus.

Khaled spoke to reporters after the launch of the book ‘Historical Facts and Fiction’ by estemeed scholar Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, that disputes widely-accepted versions of the historical Islamisation of the Malay world.

According to Khalid, Naguib's approach was more towards "finding out the truth" using research rather than a political statement made by someone with no background in history.

 "(The Bukit Kepong statement) was a half-baked political statement which had caused confusion," he said, referring to a speech by PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu.

Asked if the ministry would encourage research on controversial historical figures like Mat Indera, he said, "No. (Research into pre-colonial history) is more basic, and more academic."

Commenting on Naguib's book, Khaled said that the professor's work had managed to put to the  test  Malay archipelago history  written by Western historians.

"Maybe Western accounts of history only suited (the writers') own interests, so the focus was only on what happened from the arrival of Western powers," Khaled said.

M'sian varsities  teaching 'infantile' history

Earlier in his lecture Naquib expressed regret that Malaysian universities are still teaching Western accounts of history.

"Why are our universities still teaching history that is infantile?

"We need to see the logic (of historical events) and analyse to see that some of what (Western historians) say is true some are not," he said.

In the UTM Press published book, Naquib argues that there is evidence of Islam practiced in the Malay archipelago as early as the eighth century.

He argues that Islam was brought to the Malay world by missionaries from the Arab nobility and not Indian and Persian merchants, as widely accepted.

This is evident through the phoenetics of the jawi script which is based on Arabic sounds and not Malay-Persion sounds.

Naquib found that Palembang and Malay scripts also mention  Arab missionaries, tracing the individuals genealogy.

He also revisits the story of Malacca founder Parameswara and his conversion to Islam as evidence of the presence of Arab missionaries.

The book is available in hard cover and retails at RM180.

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