Recently read a book which was published on the year 2007 …
May 13 “Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots 1969” by Dr. Kua Kia Soong
Following the time spent to read this book, I recalled few items in my memory …. The most recent being …
- Birotatanegara’s (BTN) brain wash
- History book in form 5 and also what my History teacher taught us
- How politicians reacted when asked about the May 13 incident
Especially towards the way Birotatanegara brain washed us, the fire within me was ignited even more after reading this book.
Philip Bowring has a piece in the Asia Sentinel. He writes,
…it is hard to see how a multi-racial, multi-religious Malaysia can flourish if events such as May 13 can only be discussed in private, while the public is fed a distorted official version in order to sustain the legitimacy of UMNO politicians … Asia Sentinel
This is one excerpt from the book,
“At earlier press conferences Ghazali had stressed that the major reasons for the May 13 riots was the breakdown of the ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ made in 1957 whereby the Chinese were given citizenship and the Malay were granted a special position’. During the election campaign, he claimed, the Chinese-based opposition parties had challenged the ‘special position’ and by doing so infuriated the Malays who still regarded the Chinese as their guests. Apart from the 2/3 parliamentary majority which the Malay-dominated Alliance Party had enjoyed since 1957, there were the nine rulers to guarantee that Malay rights would never be touched. Therefore, to challenge these rights would never be touched. Therefore, to challenge these rights, or even to suggest that they were not eternal, was to make revolution.”
Undoubtedly, the official version of the cause of May 13 was a sentence quite beautifully stated. However, complete "Booo Sheets".
I remembered very well that in the Birotatanegara so called a “Kursus Kenegaraan” the instructor mentioned in his fiery speech – “Rocket won the election in Penang, and they were out for celebration … They are behaving too arrogant and start to burn the houses of the Malays in the Kampongs.” These statements are quite in accordance with the one in Wikipedia. Perhaps they just read and reproduce the same thing for purpose of brain washing. The first question, “is there any necessity for such issues to be brought up in the so called “Kursus Kenegaraan”?” Second question, if there is a necessity, “What is the purpose of bringing up this topic among teenagers who has been instilled the vague concept ever since in their time in secondary school?” Also, one thing I could not understand is why during the kenegaraan talk they do not let us bring our handphones??? Handphones have to be sealed in plastic and locked and kept the the pegawais other there. Why! Why! Why!
“Dikatakan kaum Cina yang menang telah berarak dengan mengikat penyapu kepada kenderaan mereka sebagai lambang kemenangan mereka menyapu bersih kerusi sambil melaungkan slogan. Ada pula pendapat yang mengatakan penyapu tersebut sebagai lambang mereka akan menyapu ('menyingkir') orang-orang Melayu ke laut. Dalam masyarakat Melayu, penyapu mempunyai konotasi yang negatif (sial). Ada yang mencaci dan meludah dari atas lori ke arah orang Melayu di tepi-tepi jalan.” -- Wikipedia –
... From whose point of view are these sentences stated?
... How would a person know what penyapu symbolized do not know how to use it?
Too many loop holes to be questioned ….
Following all those, here are some facts from the book which provoke thinking regarding that incident. Below excerpts are derived from the book.
======== May 13 – Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969 ========
Record of the Riots
... “There was a plan in place to assemble young Malay hoodlums from all over Selangor at the residence of the Selangor Menteri Besar’s residence.”
... “Once the rioting had started, the security forces did not keep order impartially but stood by while these hoodlums were allowed to burn and kill indiscriminately. Troops also fired indiscriminately into Chinese shop-houses and were preponderantly Chinese.”
... “Razak was in complete control from the start of the riots and with the emergency in place, has a free hand in planning the post-1969 political makeup with the backing of the armed forces.”
Chronology of Events
May 11th and May 12th
Ruling Alliance party lost Penang to Gerakan Party, Kelantan to PMIP (Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party), Perak and Selangor were at the brink of falling into Opposition hands. It is the first time since independence where ruling party lots its 2/3 majority. Supporters of DAP and Gerakan filled the capital’s streets on both nights with their flag-waving convoy of the vehicles. On the night of 11th and 12th May, the Opposition celebrated their victory. In particular, a large Gerakan procession welcomed the left-wing Gerakan leader V.David back from winning the federal seat in Penang.
“Foreign correspondents in KL who observed the election filed dispatched praising the Malaysia Democratic process and predicting 5 years of peace, prosperity and more efficient government.”
May 13th : UMNO youth gather at MB’s residence
From dispatch by Bob Recee, correspondent for the FEER at the time, it is evident that there was a plan youths mobilized by UMNO elements to assemble at the residence of the Selangor Menteri Besar, Dato Harun Idris. It started off at Kampung Baru and Batu Road. The curfew that was imposed was not fairly applied on all communities and the army was alleged to have fired indiscriminately into Chinese shop houses.
“Late on Tuesday afternoon (May 13), young Malays from the whole of Selangor began to assemble outside the residence of the Selangor Menteri Besar, Dato Harun. A retaliatory march had been planned by the UMNO youth the end in a rally at Suleiman Court near Batu Road, but police permission was withheld. While people were still assembling for this parade, trouble broke out in the nearby Malay section of Kampong Baru, where 2 Chinese lorries were burnt. By 6.30 pm, a crowd was raging down Jalan Raja Muda towards Batu Road. Another group came out of Kampong Baru into Jalan Hale, another exit from the Malay section into the Chinese areas.”
“By 7.15pm I could see the mobs swarming like bees at the junction of Jalan Raja Muda and Batu Road. More vehicles were smashed and Chinese shop-houses set on fire. The Chinese and Indian shopkeepers of Batu Road formed themselves into a ‘district defense force’ armed with whatever they could find – parangs, poles, iron bars and bottles. I watched one old man pathetically grasp a shovel. Men, standing in the back of a truck traveling up and down the road, urged the people to unite. A 16-year-old boy tore strips from a piece of cloth to be used for identification. When the Malay invading force withdrew as quickly as it had arrived, the residents took their revenge. Shop-fronts and cars suspected of being Malay-owned were smashed or burnt. Several attempts were made to set fire to the nearby UMNO headquarters where 3 propagandas jeeps had allegedly knocked over 2 Chinese on a bicycle, was also attacked.”
“The police arrived at about 9 pm but did not remain in the area. Later, truck-loads of Federal Reserve units (riot squads) and the Royal Malay Regiment drove past. The Chinese in the street ran into their shop-houses as soon as the convoy came into sight, but were quickly out on the streets again when they had passed. By midnight, I found the street almost deserted but sounds of gunfire and the glows of the fires showed that trouble had flared up elsewhere. From my own observations, the curfew was not imposed on Tuesday night with equal rigidity in all areas. In the side streets of Jalan Hale, I could see bands of Malay youths armed with parangs and sharpened bamboo spears assembled in full view of troops posted at road junctions. Meanwhile, at Batu Road, a number of foreign correspondents saw members of the royal Malay Regiment firing into Chinese shop-houses for no apparent reason. The road itself was completely deserted, and no sniping or other violence by the residents had been observed by the journalists.”
“The violence, which the Tunku described as triggered off by the behaviour of opposition supporters after the announcement of the election results, had provided, he said, a situation which the communists “had always tried to create”. As if to demonstrate this, it was announced on Friday night that “93 hardcore terrorists” had been arrested in a building in Batu Road with home-made arms and were alleged to have confessed to the intention of attacking innocent people. It was also announced that another 60 “armed communists” were taken into custody over the weekend.”
Razak likewise tried to avert suspicious of UMNO’s role in the disturbances by pinning the blame on the communists:
“In response to some prodding by the Australian High Commission, Razak denied that it had ever been Umno’s intention to organize a large procession through the town on the evening of 13 May. They had simply assembled in front of the Selangor state Chief Minister’s house to demonstrate support and trouble had started when 2 bus loads of Chinese youths came by and provoked by them. Thereafter Communist elements had taken full advantage of the situation and it was they who were responsible for the continuing violence.”
May 14th : Casualties were mainly Chinese
“… that of 77 corpses in the morgue of the General Hospital on 14 May, at least 60 were Chinese.”
... “Tunku said the riots were due to an attempt by disloyal elements to overthrown the Government by the force of arms. In his second speech, he said a great deal of money had been poured into the country by communists’ agents, adding that the communists had earlier tried to prevent the elections.”
Nevertheless, the observations of the possession by foreign journalists give a very different picture:
“While it was true that some Mao-slogans and flags were seen during this parade, the discipline of the 14000 strong crowds in their eight-mile march may have been due to genuine restraint rather than to communist’s organization.”
Blame on communists Disbelieved
The secret dispatch to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) puts paid to the claim that the communists were responsible for the riots. Only by the end of May after all killing are done, Dr. Ismail, Tunku and Ghazali Shafie had to admit their earlier attribution of the riots to the communists had been incorrect.
“The communist hare was started personally by the Tunku who, in highly emotional broadcast on 15 May, blamed the whole affair on “communist terrorists” and spoke of their plans “to take over and to overthrow the Alliance by threat and intimidation……… But on the same day, Tun Dr Ismail was admitting that he had been wrong to ascribe the riots to the communists, and during the New Zealand Defense Minister visit on 30 and 31 May, the Tunku admitted that the earlier accusation had been incorrect. Three days later, Tan Sir Ghazali followed suit and only admit in publicly in a unattrobutable briefing.”
19th May: Razak completely in control
21st May:
Official statistics of casualties:
“137 killed – 18 Malays
342 injured
109 vehicles burned
118 building destroyed
2912 persons arrested, most curfew breakers”
24th May : Government in denial
“Government statements on communists’ responsibility for the disturbances have become rather more rational, but this is negative rather than positive and there is no sign of the government being ready to admit publicly that the trouble was basically racial and the disturbances occasioned by the armed Malays.”
British Expatriates Complain of Racial Discrimination
“Letter from Mrs. April Thacker to Sir Malcolm Stoddart-Scott, MP, 24 May 1969.
I personally know a Chinese shopkeeper who had to open his doors at gunpoint to four had armed policemen (Malay) who came in and took they wanted and left without payment. We ourselves sheltered 15 Chinese peasants in our garage one night because bands of Malays were going round setting fire to Chinese property and slashing people with their parangs.”
... The record show incontrovertibly that the riots of May 1969 were carefully planned and organized and that they were an excuse for the new regime to declare an emergency to affect the regime change. The security forces did not act professional and impartially but allowed the thugs to go about their slaughter of ethnic Chinese. These documents also show that Razak, the then deputy prime minister was in full control from the start of the riots. With the state of emergency, he could implement the agenda of the ascendant Malay state capitalist class for political and economic dominance in the post-1969 Malaysia. In this plan, they received the full backing of the police and army. --- May 13 ---
========= May 13 – Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969 ========
Two myths associated with the publication of the book stated by Kua.
... “This is the first myth we should dismantle as documents showed some people were involved in making it (the May 13) happened with the connivance of the police and army.”
... “I am questioning this. The role of the state is very important at a particular historical conjuncture. Malays, Chinese and Indians don’t suddenly decide to fight in conflict, it doesn’t happen like that.”
Some of the information is from blogs and websites below:
1. Politics 101 Malaysia
2. Elizabeth Wong's Blog
