Why Farish's History is So Important

Simply put, what we know of our past has been oversimplified and condensed into a mould meant to serve ulterior and narrow political motives. For example, little, if any, is ever spoken about the influences of Hindu and Buddhist cultures that have actually played a major role in forming what we know as “Malay” culture today. Similarly, the notions that Chinese and Indians only appeared on our landscape during late colonial times, as recent social ingredients that have made Malaysia multicultural – notions that play very well into the exclusivist political rhetoric that we hear all too often today in our nation. ... The second reason why this book is important, is that our obscured history has for too long been only available, for the most part, to the academicians. Hence, the uniqueness of where this wealth of information was initially presented to the general public.

Walski has an excellent review up on his blog of Farish Noor's alternative Malaysian history What Your Teacher Didn't Tell You.