On May 13, 1969
By Raja Petra Bin Raja Kamarudin, reform-minded activist in 1998 before he joined the Keadilan (opposition) party of jailed former deputy prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
May 13, 2003

Some honourable members of the Internet fraternity have suggested that only eye-witness accounts can be accepted as true. Maybe I can offer myself as this eye-witness.

I also obtained part of my information from many other members of my and my wife's family.

Now back to Malaysia. I was a 19-year-old teenager in 1969. I lived in Bangsar, a Malay stronghold then. My wife-to-be (we had been dating for about a year) lived in Brickfields, an Indian stronghold at one end and Chinese controlled at the another.

Bangsar and Brickfields came under the Damansara Parliamentary constituency, now known as the Lembah Pantai Parliamentary constituency. In the May 1969 General Elections the opposition won most of the town and city seats.

Damansara was won by V. David of the Democratic Action Party, an offshoot of the People's Action Party of Singapore. To celebrate their "victory", they organised victory parades all over their "area".

They passed Bangsar which, as I said, was a Malay area, and shouted insults. They told the Malays to "balek kampung", an insult meaning go back to the villages.

Some even shouted "Melayu bodoh" - stupid Malays - and Melayu Si (Chinese meaning "Malays die"). Some other Malay areas all over Kuala Lumpur also suffered this same fate.

Malays were mocked and insulted. This I saw and heard with my own eyes and ears. The Malays were upset. They decided to organise a victory parade of their own in areas they had won.

After all, they had won in more areas than the opposition had. They had even more reason to celebrate.

It was decided that they would all assemble at the Selangor Chief Minister's (Dato' Harun) house on May 13th 1969. Malays from all over the city were summoned.

To handle the logistics nightmare, buses were chartered for this purpose. The various bus companies found out what the purpose of all these buses were for and they did not turn up at the appointed time.

The Malays in Puchong, Gombak, Bangsar, and many more places, waited and waited but no buses. By then the crowd had grown thick and restless. That's when they decided, hang the buses. Let's just march to Kampong Baru, the meeting place.

And march they did. The first Malay group from Gombak reached Setapak. At Setapak a group of Chinese shouted insults. Insults turned to blows, and blows to bloodshed.

The Malays, who were unarmed, suffered a few casualties at the hands of the well-prepared and well-armed Chinese. Some Malays managed to escape to Kampong Baru where the bulk of the crowd had now assembled.

They raised the alarm and by then not even the army could stop them. They rushed out to the Chow Kit and Ipoh Road areas, which are Chinese-dominated and the "war" began.

This war spread quickly and, by the end of the day, there were many casualties on both sides. The other areas like Bangsar, Puchong, and so on, got news of the clash and they too joined in.

Many Chinese shops in Bangsar were burnt and many and unsuspecting motorists and motorcyclists passing Bangsar on the way home to Petaling Jaya were ambushed along Bangsar.

Bangsar Road was littered with burnt-out cars and motorcycles. I lost many a friend on May 13 and the days following it.

My wife's cousin, who married a Chinese and lived in Pudu, a Chinese stronghold, told many horror stories a few days after curfew was lifted.

Another of my wife's cousin who married an air force chopper pilot related some of his stories how they saw people cut to pieces in front of there eyes while they were hovering above helpless.

My brother's, Raja Idris', father-in-law was the Deputy Chief of the Special Branch then, so he too would probably have many horror stories of his own. But forget the horror stories. I would need 100 pages to relate them all.

The point is, YES it did happen. And YES, it WAS bad. But, when it was happening, no one knew what was happening. Many did not know who was fighting whom.

Soldiers were shooting soldiers. Soldiers and police were attacked and killed by mobs.

Pregnant wives were cut open. Children were thrown off buildings. Old ladies were split open with swords. Armouries were ransacked and firearms were widespread. That is the truth.

And if I have to go to jail for saying so then let it be so. Let whatever I say, if it be false, someone come forward and say so. I saw much, met many people who could not believe what they saw, lost many people I know - they just disappeared.

But that was almost 30 years ago. Let's not open up old wounds.

Many people involved then have since died; either violently or from plain old age. Let's just understand how it started and why it started and make sure it never happens again.

The politicians started it. It was a ruling government-opposition party matter.

How did it turn out into a Malay-Chinese issue? Simple. The politicians play communal politics. They still do.

To get support they rant and rave about "Malay rights", Chinese rights", "fighting for justice for their race", and all that which can bring feelings of racial antagonism.

The politicians are the culprits. Unless they practice responsible and matured politics and lay off the "them and us" issues there will always be this divide between the various races in Malaysia.

And as long as there is this divide there will always be that danger of another May 13. So Mahathir now "fights" with the West. He condemns the US.

We squabble with Singapore. At least the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ruling Government, opposition parties, and all manner and form of "traditional enemies" are now united and of one voice.

It may not auger well for our economy. But at least it makes the various races "brothers". So it is not ALL bad.
May 13, 2003