A painting of one of James Brooke's battles against pirates in Sarawak. Photo: Brooke Heritage Trust
The other day, the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) issued a press statement asking the Education Ministry to correct some mistakes in the history curriculum. For them, the issues were that Malaya is referred to as “our nation” in the textbook, and that in 1963, Malaysia consisted of 13 states.
For me, it’s a case of Sah-rah-wak, Seh-rah-wak – it depends how you look at it. After all, I still consider events that took place in pre-1957 in Malaya as part of “my nation’s history”. And while I accept there was a rewording of the Federal Constitution in 1976, my belief is that it was more cosmetic than substantial (on this point, I am willing to be proven wrong).
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