ABSTRACT
In the 1950s, political decolonization in Malaya and Singapore led to a ‘decolonization’ of knowledge in the history syllabus. The changes in the history syllabus were initiated during 1952 by the first local official in charge of the Education Department, E.C.C. Thuraisingham. The process of ‘decolonizing’ the history syllabus was carried out by committees of teachers and education officials who were guided by historians at the History Department of the University of Malaya, expatriates Cyril Northcote Parkinson and K.G. Tregonning. In revising the curriculum, these historians were influenced by the debate in the historical discipline concerning moving from writing ‘Europe-centric’ to ‘Asia-centric’ history. They sought to achieve a history syllabus that would help foster a Malayan nation by providing ‘Asia-centric’ history aimed at having the students develop a ‘Malayan outlook’.
