On 20 January 2011, 9 men, believed to be members of
HINDRAF, were arrested by the Malaysian police after putting up posters demanding that the novel be banned.
Interlok was defended by Malaysian opposition leader
Anwar Ibrahim and a scholar Awang Sariyan, who said that "the National Laureate had based his work on the social reality of the era depicted in the novel." Both Anwar Ibrahim and Awang Sariyan claim that they did not think that the novel contained anything racist. The author Abdullah Hussain defended his work and himself claiming that he did not intend to offend the Indian community; that his work has been misunderstood; and that he had actually intended to describe the unity of the three major ethnic groups in Peninsula Malaysia, namely, the
Malays,
Chinese and
Indians. The controversy regarding the novel stems from the usage of the term
kasta pariah ("
pariah caste"), which often refers to persons from the lowest caste in the
Indian caste system.
Interlok was withdrawn from the school syllabus on 15 January 2011 following a discussion between the Education Ministry of Malaysia and Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. However, this decision was reversed on 28 January 2011 following a discussion between Malaysian prime minister
Najib Razak, MIC president
G. Palanivel and MIC deputy president
S. Subramaniam and deputy prime minister
Muhyiddin Yassin. The latest decision effectively retains
Interlok as part of the syllabus in Malaysian schools but amendments were to be made to parts of the novel which were deemed too sensitive to the Indian community. On 27 February 2011, a demonstration was held and organised by HINDRAF protesting against the inclusion of the novel in the school curriculum in
Kuala Lumpur. The police arrested 109 protesters for allegedly taking part in an illegal demonstration. The education ministry agreed to review and make amendments to
Interlok by having 8 independent panellists review it. On 16 March 2011, all the 8 members of the panel agreed and came up with 100 amendments before the book can be made suitable for the students to read. During a meeting with the deputy prime minister, who is also the education minister, the minister said that 100 amendments was too much and that it should be reduced. After the meeting with the deputy prime minister, 3 out of the 8 panellists quit the panel as they felt betrayed. ==References==