Yesterday, Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi implied that Chinese and Indians are possibly not patriotic enough, hence their failure to enlist in the armed forces. He told Parliament during question time that this could be the reason why military recruits are mostly Malay.

Interestingly enough, the Education Ministry plans to incorporate elements of 'patriotism', in addition to 'citizenship' and 'the constitution', into the History syllabus. This was announced by deputy education minister Mohd Puad Zarkashi. Not incidentally, Puad is someone who has been vocal in his support of Perkasa as well as graced functions organized by the ultra Malay movement.

When they start teaching patriotism in History class, what guarantee is there that teachers in sekolah kebangsaan will not echo the prejudices of Umno minister Zahid, or the Perkasa-friendly minister Puad? Indeed, any foreboding that the contents of the History curriculum will become even more subjective is a fear well founded.

There is an immediate reason for the planned expansion of the subject coverage. In year 2013, students sitting SPM must pass History, Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said in his winding-up speech at the Umno general assembly. That such an important national policy disclosure was made at the Umno headquarters on an occasion attended only by party members is telling of who calls the shots and who will control implementation.

This is a far-reaching development. Previously science students in upper secondary could forgo taking the subject but not anymore once it's made compulsory. The stricture means that a student failing history will fail the whole SPM. If it is to follow the same requirement as for the compulsory Bahasa Melayu, then a student without a credit in History (although doing well in his other subjects) will still miss out on getting grade 1.

It's uncommon anywhere else in the world for History to be elevated to most-important exam paper. Why is the government (read: Umno) taking such an unprecedented step?

Teaching minorities a lesson  

Utusan headlined its Oct 29 front page 'Ramai buta sejarah' (Many are ignorant of history) and followed up with the Awang Selamat Sunday editorial saying: "It looks like without [awareness of] history, our rakyat will be no different from foreign pendatang".

The Umno mouthpiece added that although the contributions of the various races towards achieving Independence is acknowledged, "nonetheless the reality is that the Malays are most dominant". The paper's polemics merely underscores the politics being played out by the adults over what being 'Malaysian First' entails.

Consequently the grown-ups have decided to settle the score showing who's boss by transferring the venue (for the rhetoric) to schools, and impressing upon malleable young minds that to call themselves Malaysian, they need to understand the history of Malaysia.

Umno's track record should clue us in as to what can be expected of the Citizenship, Patriotism and Constitution components in SPM History. After all, Najib Razak has already pronounced Malaysia to have fundamentally a two-tier and unequal citizenship. The Biro Tata Negara orientation on patriotism is common knowledge.

As for understanding the constitution, it's obvious which of its articles will be stressed to Fifth Formers. A pertinent and current example: The sovereignty of the constitution and areas which cannot be challenged are "the matters touching on Islam, the position of the Malay rulers, the Malays and the Malay language". On Oct 31, Bernama reported that the Conference of Rulers had issued a royal statement to the effect.

More views about the dominance of Malays and Islam were forthcoming from prominent academic Chandra Muzaffar, who is also chairman of the board of trustees of the 1Malaysia Foundation.


Converting to First choice

In his Sept 8 interview with the New Straits Times, Chandra said, "... there is a gap in the way a lot of Malays and Malaysians of Chinese and Indian descent look at the nation, which has not changed much. For a lot of Malays, the nation, which is still evolving, is one with a strong Malay root, meaning that it is a nation that has to take cognizance of the monarchy, the language and Islam.

He laments: "But not many non-Malays empathise with that, they don't seem to appreciate why the Malays feel the way they do. For a lot of non-Malays, their idea of the nation is that of an entity that just emerged from their settling in the country and being part of negotiations to create a nation-state called Malaya." The compulsory History lessons will correct this 'shortcoming' in understanding among non-Malay youths.

Chandra told NST that the Malay special position is "non-negotiable", and declared Islam as the "base that has the most intimate relationship with the history and evolution of this land and with a majority of its population". He foresees a national culture resting on this Malay-Muslim foundation, occurring after conditions are created "which will allow people to interact with one another, to absorb, to integrate".

If History made compulsory is allowed to be hijacked by Ketuanan Melayu, the conditions to be created which will allow people to interact -- as envisioned by Chandra -- will be conditions conducive to softening resistance to the ambient national culture of 1Malay-Muslim Malaysia. 

Chandra, as head of the 1Malaysia Foundation, proposes that any collaborative national culture must be grounded in universal Islamic values. His view is predominant and typical of the Malay polity.

With Malay bureaucrats taking charge, students will be fed the version that history started in this land only some hundreds of years ago -- with the advent of Islam. Even though the peninsula hosted Hindu and Buddhist civilizations millennia before Islam reached our shores, the present History syllabus nonetheless places an inordinately heavy emphasis on Islam.

Single-race public sector

Past experience indicates to us how textbooks have been written previously. In July 2006, then Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi revealed the withdrawal of a contentious course book on ethnic relations prepared by UPM.

The course book had blamed DAP for May 13, fingered the anti-social attitude of Indian youths as a contributing factor for the Kampung Medan racial clashes, and labelled Suqiu’s call for non-discrimination as ‘extremist’. It's hardly surprising that the UPM academics who prepared the material should be race biased.

A sampling taken in July of the online staff directory of other universities showed that every single one of the 61 lecturers in UKM's Faculty of Education are Malay-Muslim. In Universiti Malaya, out of 70 academic staff, 52 are Malay and those who had Chinese names only five. Neither UM's Dean of Education nor any of his three deputies are Chinese.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education website lists the following individuals as their highest-ranking administrators: Rosli Mohamed, Ghafar Mahmud, Badarudin Abd. Rahaman, Noor Rezan Bapoo Hashim, Khair Mohamad Yusof and Asariah Mior Shaharuddin. The director of curriculum development division is Julaihi Bujang, head of the history unit for curriculum development (Nor Zamani Abdol Hamid), department head of textbook division (Jame bin Alip), director of the educational planning and research division (Zahri Aziz), and chief executive of the Examination Council (Omar Abu Bakar).

A look at the organisation chart of any bureaucracy shows which race dominates the entire government machinery and all the ministries and state agencies.

So who will be writing or rewriting SPM History? Like you even have to ask...

State Education Departments/Directors

Johor	Sufa'at Tumin
Kedah	Shahidan Abd. Rahman
Kelantan	Hussain Awang
Labuan	Mohammad Zaki Mohd Yusof
Malacca	Isa Abu
Perlis	Mansor Lat
Penang	Ibrahim Mohamad
N.Sembilan	Abdullah Mohammad
Pahang	Abdul Aziz Abdul Latiff
Perak	Mohd Radzi Abd Jabar
Sabah	Muhiddin Yusin
Sarawak	Mortadza Hj. Alop
Selangor	Sulaiman Wak
Terengganu	Ariffin Embong
K. Lumpur	Mohd Adenan Deraman
Putrajaya	Khairil Awang