MASZLEE DEMANDS APOLOGY FROM UMNO YOUTH CHIEF
Letter of demand issued over alleged slanderous remarks in issue over History textbook syllabus
FORMER education minister Maszlee Malik has issued a letter of demand (LoD) to Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki over the latter ’s recent alleged slanderous statement.
The Simpang Renggam member of parliament is seeking a public apology from Asyraf for slandering him regarding an issue over the Form 4 revised History textbook syllabus.
Asyraf had claimed that the previous Pakatan Harapan (PH) government tried to intentionally glorify communists as independence fighters.
Maszlee, in his Facebook post on Thursday, said he had instructed his lawyer to issue an LoD for Asyraf to make an open apology and retract his statement.
“Politicians should focus on helping the people and practise a good political culture without accusing and slandering others.
“I hope this action will make other politicians, regardless of their parties, to avoid the culture of slander based on race, especially when it involves national education.
“I believe the people are fed up with this kind of politics as it can destabilise national unity,” he said.
Asyraf claimed that the current Form 4 History syllabus was revised as a deliberate attempt by the previous government to purportedly condition students into thinking that socialism and communism were not bad.
Among other things, Asyraf said Umno Youth wanted the Education Ministry to immediately withdraw the Form 4 History textbook and restore the facts that were allegedly manipulated. However, the ministry in a statement refuted the claims, stating that the contents were checked by a multiracial panel of history experts in April 2018, with the facts even sent to government bodies such as the National Archives and National Museum for review.
The ministry said the revised syllabus in the textbook was done under the Secondary School Standard Curriculum (KSSM) is based on the Standard Curriculum and Assessment Document (DSKP), as well as the ministry’s standard operating procedures for the publishing of textbooks which were updated in 2018.