COMMENT Bujang Valley is home to Malaysia’s richest archaeological area. Our National Heritage Department considers some of these archaeological discoveries, termed as ‘unexpected find’, the most important in the region having an impact on our history.

The researchers have identified to date 127 sites with 90 candi in the Bujang Valley. This ancient civilisation with elements of Hinduism and Buddhism has existed since the 5th century, even before the beginning of the Islamic calendar.The remains of one of the candi, Candi 11, were destroyed in November this year by a developer for a property project.

Parties responsible to protect the sites under the National Heritage Act 2005, i.e. the Kedah government, the local council and the Tourism Ministry, claimed innocence that none of them were aware of the demolition until highlighted by local historian Nadarajan through the media.

What happen to our National Commission for Unesco formed in 1966? Our Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is a current member of the Unesco executive board, a post previously held by former education ministers Hishammuddin Hussein and Najib Abdul Razak since 1999.

Does Malaysia still subscribe to Unesco’s ideals that peace must be established on the basis of humanity’s moral and intellectual solidarity? And to build inter-cultural understanding we need to protect heritage and support cultural diversity?

Is there anything new in this? The story could be historically old. We have read history and understood them as being barbaric when conquerors destroyed the cultural and religious monuments to obliterate the traces of the conquered.

The new invaders always imposed theirs over the earlier by such destructions.

History a threat

The reason is simple. Destroy when they are culturally and religiously connected and pose a threat to the new dominance.

Be it during the reign of Caesar, Hitler or the dynasties in Egypt and China or even the invasions in India – the human race has been doing it all the time.

The most dramatic event of the recent time is the dynamiting of a pair of titanic sized Bamiyan Buddha sculptures of the Afghan people in 2001 by the Taliban.

As we can see such conduct is not just intolerance but a subject of domination and at the expense of destroying physical structures that are of cultural and religious significance to minority groups.

Such crimes committed against culture, challenges the whole of humanity and its fabric of cultural diversity.

Malaysia, a multi ethnic with multi lingual country, boasts to protect its rich national heritage.

The National Department for Culture and Arts accepts that culture is mankind’s way of life. The rational for the National Cultural Policy of 1971 is based on Malaysia’s position as a meeting point being the centre of trade and civilisation some 2,000 years ago.

It adds that Malaysia’s role as a meeting point has resulted in interaction, introduction, assimilation and acceptance of various elements suitable to be adopted as basic culture of this region.

However, there are issues as to the cultural policy. The three principles of the policy are not inclusive in nature.

Firstly, the national culture must be based on the indigenous culture of this region and narrows its contents to Malay culture.

Secondly, suitable elements from the other cultures may be accepted as part of the national culture and lastly, Islam is an important component in the formulation of the national culture.

Destroying our history

Dr Mahathir Mohamad (left), when he became the prime minister, dismissed such a nation state concept and urged an inclusive national identity of Bangsa Malaysia – people to identify with the country, speak Bahasa Malaysia and accept the constitution.

Sadly, we are still stuck with the 1971 policy.

The policymakers politically believe that culture is a tool to inculcate the spirit of nationalism and nationhood that will guarantee the stability, harmony and unity in Malaysia.

This centres the dominant culture and religion above all and machinates discriminatory policy against other cultures and religions.

Thus all intention of harmony and unity is put at risk, propelling not inclusiveness but strategies to make cultures and religions of the non Malays less significant.

The urging for unity in diversity cannot be practically achieved with intent to homogenise Malaysians. This is not inclusive.

An inclusive model acknowledges diversity, promotes participation, creates condition for equal opportunities and equal access and creates a mutually beneficial community and becomes a system for all.

But we are stuck with a model that wants to fix this as if something is wrong, and instead calls for adaptation, seeks political consensus for accommodation and works within the system in which predator dominates for assimilation.

Can we rewrite history for such a political belief? We do, the History subject is made compulsory in schools with tailor made contents to build Malay hegemony.

All is not bad, the current calls of various parties to undo the damage and preserve the Bujang Valley archeological site as national heritage with commitment to reconstruct the Candi 11 is reassuring.

It would be timely for the policy makers to define their statement in an inclusive manner categorically stating that the destruction of Candi 11 is un-Islamic and that Islam is inclusive in building Bangsa Malaysia.

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K ARUMUGAM is chairperson of human rights organisation Suaram.