Unfit textbook: Interlok insults with impunity

Foreword by CPI

Interlok is essentially The Malay Dilemma in narrative form – the two books are spiritual cousins. As such, you can see how Interlok has the capacity to incite.

In the world of Interlok, the Chinese do not even care to leave any crumbs for the natives. And not only are the Chinese characters most unsympathetic with scarcely any redeeming graces, they are also physically repulsive.

Meanwhile the Indians are derogatorily misrepresented by the author Abdullah Hussain who displays little understanding of their culture and beliefs. Abdullah’s malice is evidently intentional since each negative racial stereotype is obsessively replicated and embellished with examples of behaviorial trait.

In a nutshell, Interlok is an unfit and improperly assigned text that negates the Ministry of Education’s own guidelines through its multitude of sensitive and offensive elements.

It makes out the atypical to be the archetype, such as the Chinese selling their daughters. The general public is yet to realise how distorted, if not dangerous, the novel is as a piece of racial propaganda until they read it for themselves.

For non-readers of Malay or those less well versed in the language, the analysis below provides a succinct and compelling summary of all that is wrong with Interlok.

We are grateful to Hartal MSM for undertaking this analysis.

Read the analysis at: http://english.cpiasia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2140&catid=228