National treasure: Prof Khoo was both guardian and architect of our shared Malaysian journey.
HISTORIANS deal with the past. As the architects of our collective memory; they record, document and preserve. History can never be objective because like any form of storytelling, there’s always a writer or narrator who selects, edits and crafts the source material. Biases are therefore to be expected. The best we can do is to be aware of their existence.
Most historians remain in academia. Their interests are often esoteric and obscure. A rare handful venture into the public arena – seeking to influence and shape popular opinion – drawing more general conclusions from their narrow-based research. Not all are successful and many stumble because of the shortcomings of their arguments – moral or otherwise.For new nation-states – especially in South-East Asia – an underlying meta-narrative is critical, especially if this grand, overarching set of themes can unite populations divided by race, religion or geography.
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