Bilcher Bala, a history lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, said the current history syllabus taught in schools is already “heavy enough”.
On the other hand, Helen Ting of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) believes the proposal warrants consideration as it could help develop the thinking skills of students.
Bilcher told FMT the present history textbooks used in schools, developed based on the Standard Curriculum Assessment Document (DSKP), are sufficiently comprehensive for use in schools.
He said these books are limited to 10 chapters and do not exceed 260 pages to suit the needs of school-going children.
“The selection of facts is made to suit the purposes of nation building at school level. It’s not for a career in the history profession or for university level,” he said.
On Sept 9, Aaron said that historical records and data preserved in the National Archives could enrich Malaysia’s historical records, but has yet to be fully utilised by historians.
He claimed that a failure to make full use of these records has led to concerns about gaps in Malaysia’s historical documentation.
Bilcher said historians are aware of the material available in the National Archives, but explained that the DSKP framework requires the contents of school textbooks to set out only what is sufficient and appropriate.
Ting, however, supported Aaron’s proposal. She said students could familiarise themselves with the records stored in the National Archives via small history projects conducted under the guidance of teachers.
“It is a good idea to expose students to historical records – not to turn them into historians – but to foster historical thinking skills,” said the senior research fellow at UKM’s Institute of Malaysian and International Studies.
She said such exposure could provide students with a basic understanding of how research into history is conducted and the different contexts in which historical records could be read.
“Students can be taught that different social groups may appreciate or interpret historical events from different angles based on their own interests, experience and positionalities,” she said.
She said older students could also be exposed to historical artifacts to “help them understand the complexity and contradictions experienced by historical figures and their actions”.
As an example, she said students could learn about the memorandum submitted by the Alliance to the Reid Commission when the Federal Constitution was being formulated and the oral submissions made in the course of the proceedings.
“But this also needs to be supplemented with explanations by historians as the context is as important as the text in understanding what happened,” she said.