Lets read what the author has to say about this issue.Why is it a national issue??
Interlok is used as a literature textbook for Form Five students, beginning this year.
Datuk Abdullah Hussain said the word “pariah” in the novel Interlok was not intended to offend or belittle the Indian community.He was disappointed that people misunderstood his work and accused him of being racist.
He said the novel was written to describe the unity between the natives of the peninsula, who were Malays, and the Chinese who came to work in the tin mines and Indians brought in by the English as labourers.
“We have to understand that the term ‘pariah’ exists in India, but not in Malaysia.
“That’s the difference between India and Malaysia.
“Furthermore, the word exists in the dictionary, but Indians here want to forget about the caste system and the term pariah,” he told Mingguan MStar, the weekly Malay news magazine of The Star.
Abdullah said the contents of Interlok only became an issue because some quarters did not understand the true essence of the novel.
“If you read until the end, you will see the actual meaning. I pictured the respective roles of the Malays, Chinese and Indians.
“The unity between the three races shaped our nation and the Malaysian race,” said the National Laureate.
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