Deputy minister urges inclusion of S’wak, Sabah history in school syllabus

SIBU (July 21): It is crucial for the whole country to understand the history of Sarawak and Sabah, and way of executing this is to include the events in school textbooks.

In stating this, Deputy Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government Datuk Michael Tiang said if Sarawak’s history cannot be implemented into national textbooks, then it must be added into the education syllabus as an additional subject for schools.

Tiang said this in response to Deputy Minister Datuk Dr Penguang Manggil’s suggestion to integrate Sarawak Day’s history into both primary and secondary schools’ curricula.

“The minimum is to start including Sarawak’s history in school textbooks throughout the state. I believe such a suggestion should not be a big problem for the state government to implement,” he said when officiating the ‘Saberkas Pelawan 722 Run for Sarawak’ at Stadium Tun Zaidi here today.

Meanwhile, the 7km run was organised by the Sarawak United National Youth Organisation (Saberkas) and had attracted 843 participants.

Tiang said the run is not merely a physical activity but also a meaningful programme which gathers communities from various backgrounds to strengthen unity and harmony in Sarawak.

Among those present were Sibu Municipal Council chairman Clarence Ting and Councillor Kevin Lau.