Teo: Sejarah revisions after Chinese groups meeting under BN govt

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 24 – Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching has threatened to sue any one spreading lies about her allegedly roping in Chinese NGOs as part of a “Team DAP” to help revise the curriculum for the Sejarah (history) subject in schools.

In a statement, Teo shot down any suggestion that a meeting between Chinese groups and a special committee under the Education Ministry over the planned revision had been mooted by her nor even started this year.

“With regards to the report that is going viral on social media and has been picked up by some portals, that I plan to revise the Sejarah subject for primary and secondary schools by using Chinese NGOs, I want to stress that this report is false and has no basis.

“Such reports are irresponsible and are trying to play up racial sentiments.

“I totally deny such allegations and strongly urge all parties, to stop sharing such lies and pull it down from their portals. Otherwise, I will not hesitate to consider taking legal action over the attempt to tarnish my reputation and that of the Education Ministry,” she said.

Revisions started in 2017

Teo, who is Kulai MP, added that the revision of the primary school standard curriculum for all subjects had already started in 2017, under the Barisan Nasional government.

The new Pakatan Harapan government took office after the 14th general election on May 9, 2018, and Teo took up the position of deputy education minister on July 2.

“The revision of the Sejarah text books for Year 4 had already been completed in 2017.

“It is therefore impossible for me or any ‘Team DAP’ or Chinese NGOs to have had any hand in the revisions carried out for the Sejarah curriculum, or even added any DAP history into the revisions,” Teo said.

Workshops since 2014 between ministry and Chinese associations

Teo had been reported by Sin Chew Daily recently as saying that a meeting was held on September 25 this year on revisions to various subjects.

According to the report, she said that the Text Books Division of the Education Ministry had held eight workshops since 2014 with regards to proposals from Chinese associations to improve the Sejarah curriculum for primary schools.

The improvement also involved corrections to any error in translation for Chinese schools.

According to Sin Chew Daily, the 10 Chinese associations also proposed for the Sejarah text books to include historical content pertaining to the influence of Indian culture in the Malay kingdoms in the peninsula, in the Year 4 Sejarah text book.

‘I was not present in any meeting’

Teo also denied being present in the meetings held between the Chinese associations and the special committee.

“I was not involved in any of the meetings. The meetings were also to only listen to the suggestions from the Chinese associations.

“I trust in the members of the Specialist Reference Panel Committee on Sejarah Curriculum and Text Books to be professional in whatever decision they make that they find valid on any revision or improvement made to the Sejarah curriculum,” she said.

– NMT