Racial Riot 13 May 1969: Malays' 513 Experience and More Appetisers for Dr. Kua's Book

In tandem with the recent 'illegal confiscation' of the legal 13 May 1969 declassified documents book from MPH Mid-Valley, there is much hoo-hah and interest with both the book and the tragedy itself in the blogsphere.

Before I proceed, let's taste more appetizers from the book "MAY 13: Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969" by Dr. Kua Kia Soong

Link: http://nooryahaya.blogspot.com/2007/05/commemorating-13-mei-1969.html

However, I do not quite agree with her view of the actions of Robert Mugabe as being justifiable. I do not agree that the way the perpetrators launched the offensive in 13 May 1969 just because certain quarters are poor as being justifiable.

I do agree that no one, regardless of race should be left in poverty in Malaysia. The execution on such eradication must be through proper non-violent channels.

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I have read much about non-Malays' personal accounts and experiences (Malaysian Unplug blog) in 13 May 1969. It is time to read more from the Malays perspective. If anyone has some ideas, thoughts or hearsay, please e-mail me at lemmonate@gmail.com or post in the comments section of this article.

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Collection of "13 Mei 1969" experiences by Nooryahaya

Excerpt:
“Apa punca asal 13 Mei tu tok?” I asked.
“Alah, Parti Pembangkang Gerakan, parti orang Cina menang 14 kerusi kat Selangor, jadi, dia orang Cina eksen buat perarakan kat Kuala Lumpur. Dia orang laung “Melayu balik kampong!”, itu yang orang Melayu marah tu."
“Tiga hari kemudian, askar Gurkha kelilingi KL atas lori ‘Raja tembak! Raja tembak!’ Lepas tu okaylah, aman."

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"May 13 - Before and After"Excerpts of this book by (the late) Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Prime Minister of malaysia, published in September 1969 May 13, 2003

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Below is an excerpt from Marina Yusof's comment in 1999. She was (or is) from the Opposition Party Parti Keadilan Rakyat during the height of the 'Reformasi' movement.

Hishamuddin Hussein (from UMNO) alleged that Marina Yusof had said some seditious remarks which warranted for a police report by invoking the Seditious Act. It is a strange thing that no one from UMNO was penalised (using Seditious Act) when Hishamuddin waved the keris frantically with some remarks from delegates asking him 'when the keris would be used?' and 'bathing in blood'. One ponders, is UMNO made to abide the Malaysian Law or Malaysian Law made to abide to UMNO? Below is Hishamuddin's claim on Marina Yusoff's words:

"Mahathir is trying to frighten the Chinese that if BN loses there will be a May 13. But I want to ask, why be scared? If the Barisan Alternatif comes to power we will arrest him (Mahathir) if he causes trouble. I want to tell the Malays, Chinese and Indians, the cause of May 13 was started by UMNO and Selangor led by Dato’ Harun. So, those Chinese who support the Barisan do not think this is good because in the past UMNO, which is in the Barisan, killed Chinese. The Chinese must note that we do not want to create trouble, we do not want turmoil in the country, we do not want our children killed. This is Mahathir’s final threat. He wants the Chinese to be frightened that there will be trouble, business will decline and their children’s safety will be in jeopardy. We give a guarantee that if all the Chinese support us we will look after their safety. We want the Chinese in the Chinese areas to look after the Malays, and the Indians in the Indian areas to look after the Malays. We do not want to segregate the Malays, Chinese and Indians. We want a Malaysian race."

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Raja Petra Kamaruddin of Malaysia Today shared his experience and views on that tragedy.
Link: http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/holds.php?itemid=3737

I would like to bring the attention to an excerpt from his article:
" But don’t blame the Chinese. Don’t blame the Malays. Don’t blame the Indians either. Blame all three; the Malays, Chinese and Indians. All are to be faulted. All must be blamed. And blame the gangs and secret societies for enforcing this segregation and territorial wars. And blame the government for losing control of the streets to the gangs and secret societies. "

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Sang Kelembai with his "Rusuhan 13 Mei atau peristiwa 13 Mei" article
Link: http://sangkelembai2006.blogspot.com/2007/05/rusuhan-13-mei-atau-peristiwa-13-mei.html

"Ini memberikan gambaran, yang membawa isu perkauman sempit adalah UMNO itu sendiri. Mereka ketakutan akan kehilangan kuasa dalam masa sama dia cuba membina UMNO sebagai satu entiti berjuang untuk Melayu tetapi bilangan Melayu yang berkhianat kepada Melayu banyak terdapat dikalangkan orang yang memakai lencana UMNO."

"Masih ingat lagi peristiwa 13hb Mei di depan Jalan Raja Muda, Kampong Baru dan masih terbayang Dato Harun Idris berucap di atas bumbung Bas Sri Jaya. Pembohongan besar jika dikatakan pada petang itu tentera telah masuk ke Kuala Lumpur hanya selepas darurat diisytiharkan lalu RAMD membuat khemah di dua buah bulatan di Jalan Ipoh iaitu persimpangan Jalan Pekeliling dan Jalan Pahang persimpangan Jalan Tuanku Abd. Rahman. Elok rasanya kerajaan lepaskan rakaman filem rusuhan 13Mei yang tersimpan di Filem Negara Malaysia untuk tayangan umum... segalanya ada di situ."

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MAHAGURU58 aka Zainol Abideen attended the book launching. He said something which I truly agree on.

Link: http://mahaguru58.blogspot.com/2007/05/may-13-1969-lest-we-forget-what-racial.html

Excerpt:
"As a Malaysian, I pray that our nation does not have to see a repeat of such a massacre ever taking place here again.Idiots in politics however seem to love stirring up trouble every now and then in our Parliament and in the online websites.

The key to that is of course - mutual respect and commonsense to prevail to those who can think rationally with their God given brains unlike some idiots we see jumping up and down in this nation's House of Parliament. I seriously hope the idiots will never be voted back to power in the next GE!"

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For Malays and non-Malays alike, please post your experiences and comments below or e-mail to me @ lemmonate@gmail.com .