KUCHING: ‘SAMAceramah: Syarahan Rosli Dhoby & Rukun 13’ talk at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), Petra Jaya here attracted nearly 500 participants.
They comprised government officers, community leaders and students.
According to General Manager of Akhirat Yayasan Melayu Sarawak Datu Dr. Sanib Said, the objectives of the talk were to commemorate veteran fighters and leaders in Sarawak as well as to improve people’s understanding of the history of Sarawak.
“As a historian since 1975, I found that there are some facts that must be corrected on Rosli Dhoby especially broadcast in drama, documentaries and some local print media, which claimed that he was an assassin.
“This is what we will describe in the talk, in which we will explain in more detail about the struggle of Rosli Dhoby fighting for independence, so misunderstanding about history can be rectified,” pointed out Sanib.
He added, students together with their accompanying teachers attended the talk for the purpose of learning more about the struggle of Rosli Dhoby because the topic was part of their History syllabus.
“Up to date, there are only six Sarawakians who worked as historians. The lack of people interested to explore the science of history was due to the lack of disclosure about the history of Sarawak to young people.
“Besides, people are lack in reading the history of Sarawak despite Sarawak being one of the leading states that actively producing history books. Studying history means we learn to seek the truth in any event,” he explained.
The talk is DBP’s annual event and this year was the third time it was being held.
