Malay NGOs set fire to 'My Balik Pulau' booklet

A group of Malay NGOs who call themselves Gabungan Bela Hak Insan (Gabungan) set fire to copies of the controversial booklet ‘My Balik Pulau’ in Penang today.

Gabungan is represented by Persatuan Anak Jati Melayu, Badan Anti-Islam Liberal, International Islamic Propagation Society and Sekretariat Dakwah. These are all Penang-based NGOs.

Gabungan president Mohamed Nordin Mohd Nor ( centre in pic ) said the tourism booklet did indeed contain elements of false history and had insulted the Malays in Penang.

He added that the book was published purposely to wipe out the history of the early Malays in Balik Pulau.

He deemed the publication dangerous and had political and racist motives.

He denied that Gabungan was a political platform, saying the group is not sure who is responsible for the issue.

“However, we want the present government to ban and withdraw the booklet,” he said.

“We also want it to take action on Arts-Ed, the publisher, as they have used the state logo for the publication,” he added.

The booklet was sponsored by the Penang Education Council, which is under the state government, and clearly carries the latter’s logo.

Arts-Ed, the publisher, is one of the NGOs which receives funding from the council through the state-sponsored Socio-Economic and Environmental Research Institute (Seri).

In a press statement yesterday, Arts-Ed said it realised that the format of the presentation of the booklet and its translation may have given rise to different interpretations.

The issue first came about when Pulau Betong assemblyperson Muhammad Farid Saad ( right ) highlighted the matter in Utusan Malaysia , saying that the booklet has “forgotten history, insults the Malays”.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has denied that the state had published or distributed the document, saying instead that it was a project under the previous government but published last year.

‘Factual errors’

Meanwhile, Mohamed Nordin urged the state government to hold a press conference to clarify the matter to the public, especially to the people of Balik Pulau, that there were factual errors which were insulting to the Malays.

“The relationship between Arts-Ed and Seri is questionable... and the question is, does the state government agree with the contents of ‘My Balik Pulau’?” he queried.

“If the state says that it has nothing to do with the publication, we want to know when it will ban this publication and what action would it be taking against the publisher?”

“If the state does not ban this publication, then we consider that the state is purposely and intentionally involved in the falsification of history and purposely intends to wipe out the history of the early existence of the Malays in Penang,” he stressed.

If the state fails to take action, Gabungan will seek the federal government's help to resolve the matter, including writing to the Home Ministry.

At the same press conference today, Gabungan secretary Ahmad Moktar Muhammad said that it was not the “format of the presentation nor its interpretations” that had offended the Muslims and Malays.

“It is about the content and the intention of the bulletin to purposely erase the early Malay history,” he said.

“It also intends to distort the facts of the history of the early Malays in Penang and is intentionally distributed to young Malay readers, who might not be exposed and have no knowledge of the real history of Penang,” he added.

Ahmad Moktar said the group felt that the booklet was carefully structured in its content, it links with many established bodies to appear authentic but it is “highly manipulative and perhaps has unhealthy ulterior motives”.