Reconstructing the Past Through Oral History: A Malaysian Experience

This paper examines the development of the oral history programme in malaysiaas a methodology to reconstruct the nation’s history and heritage. oral history refers toefforts to record and document a historical event or social phenomenon through people’sexperience and memory that enable us to have a deeper understanding of the past. inshort, by recording people’s experiences and memories from their personal lives, the oralhistory methodology acts as a bridge to connect the past to the present. for southeastasian countries which are rich in historical experiences and cultural diversity, the oralhistory project had begun in the 1960s with each country individually initiating its ownoral history programme. this paper focuses on the experience of malaysia which was thefirst to initiate an oral history programme, its subsequent development, the parties involvedand the inclination or focus of oral history projects that were implemented. even thoughmalaysia preceded other southeast asian countries in creating an oral history programme,the oral history methodology as a mode of reconstructing the nation’s past and heritageis not particularly outstanding. this paper addresses this nagging issue and examines the challenges in implementing the oral history programme in this country. the paperrecommends to the malaysian government to activate the oral history programme whichshould be subsumed under an oral history centre at the national level so that the collectionof historical information and the nation’s heritage will be based on the inclusive memoryof the community not just on written documents which are remnants of the colonial legacy.