‘What if an Indian author criticize the Malays?’ in Outerlok

Paari to ‘Interlok’ horns with ministry

RK Anand

The MIC leader plans to file a writ of mandamus to compel the Education Ministry to remove the books from classrooms.

PETALING JAYA: A MIC leader is contemplating embarking on a legal collision course with the Education Ministry over the controversial Interlok novel.

Speaking to FMT, party central working committee member S Vell Paari said that he would file for a writ of mandamus to compel the ministry to withdraw the book from classrooms.

Seeing red over the matter, he said there was no point in sending memorandums and holding street demonstrations.

“This requires a more intelligent response, which is to seek legal recourse. When we give memorandums, they’ll say there will be a review, but the process will take one or two years.

“If we demonstrate, then some 50 years from now, another so-called scholar will pen a book claiming that the Indian culture is rooted in street demonstrations,” he said.

“Just because you watch Hindi movies, eat vadai and murukku, it does not make you an authority on Indian culture,” added the son of former MIC president, S Samy Vellu.

Vell Paari said that he consulted several senior lawyers, both in Australia and here, and was advised to file the writ of mandamus.

The MIC leader said he would also file a certiorari order to get the ministry to disclose documents to the court to show how this book was included into the Malay literature syllabus for Form Five students.

“We want to know the process in which these types of books are allowed to go through, who makes the suggestion, who does the review and who approves it,” he added.

However, Vell Paari said that he would wait for the MIC top leadership to return from a conference in India before making his move.

“I will raise this matter during the next CWC meeting on Jan 18 and will suggest to Human Resources Minister (and MIC’s acting number deputy president) Dr S Subramaniam to bring it up during the Cabinet meeting again. If nothing happens, then we go to court,” he added.

‘What if an Indian author disparaged the Malays?’

Criticising the decision to include the book into the syllabus, Vell Paari asked what would have happened if an Indian author had disparaged the Malay race instead.

“Would the authorities and all those defending the book accept it in the spirit of academia? Such books only serve to perpetuate stereotypes and sow the seeds of division in young minds,” he said.

Critics claimed that the Interlok novel, penned by national laureate Abdullah Hussein, painted an inaccurate picture of the Indian community, with regard to the caste system. They also took offence with the use of the term “pariah” (outcaste).

Those who defended the book, such as the National Writers Association (Pena), argued that the detractors had misunderstood the theme, or were exploiting the issue for political interests.

Pena secretary-general Syed Mohd Zakir Syed Othman said the book’s central theme was the integration of all races during the struggle for independence, the Japanese occupation and communist insurgency.

On Saturday, a group of NGOs had torched copies of the novel in Klang.

Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also education minister, ordered the ministry’s special committee to review the use of the book.