COMMENT | It's like throwing sand on glittering gold. This is how I see the controversy over two academics writing that historical Chinese junks represented the grandeur of Malay seafaring.

Historian Ranjit Singh Malhi urged Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) to investigate the duo for allegedly misrepresenting historical facts.

James Chin of the University of Tasmania’s Asia Institute also questioned if the UPM academics were “so desperate to rewrite history”.

This controversy is unnecessary and worse, it tarnishes the great voyages of the Malayo-Polynesians who achieved probably the greatest maritime migration in human history.

They originated in...