https://www.asiaone.com/source/south-china-morning-post
History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon, Napoleon Bonaparte once said. In Malaysia, such an agreement is not easily come by.
The issue of historical narrative blew up again in July last year, when newly appointed human resources minister M. Kulasegaran found himself in hot water with the Malay majority by claiming the country's Indian ethnic minority were among the original inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula.
In his speech, which was uploaded to YouTube and went viral, Kulasegaran cites Kedah state's Bujang Valley, with its ancient Hindu temples, as proof of Indian presence on the Malay Peninsula more than two millennia ago.
"Many people will say our history started 120 to 130 years ago. That is wrong. We came here 2,500 years ago. The evidence is at Bujang Valley," he says in the video.
What sparked the bigger uproar was Kulasegaran's assertion that Malays are the pendatang, or newcomers. "We are equal. This is our homeland," he said.
The minister later apologised for his remarks, saying he had only been making the point that it is unfair to describe Malaysia's Indian citizens as pendatang.