MCA protest against Japanese textbook

MCA protest against Japanese textbook

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia's ethnic Chinese community Sunday launched a signature campaign in a protest over a controversial Japanese history textbook accused of glossing over the nation's wartime record.

The four-day campaign, organized by several Chinese non- government organizations, also aims to underline opposition to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's proposed visit to a Tokyo war shrine.

Ong Ka Ting, a vice-president of the ruling Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), said his "blood boiled" when he read the Japanese book.

"The history book is misleading, we cannot accept that. history cannot be changed or whitewashed. You have come here and killed so many, wounded so many," he told reporters after launching the campaign.

Ong, who is also housing and local government minister, said the book claimed that Japanese occupation had helped Malaysia and other countries achieve independence from the British.