13may Tragedy in Malaysia

Most Malaysian will know about our darkest history after independence on May 13, 1969.. the racial violence that claim hundred(s) of casualties.

Fact is however, how many of the younger generations know what exactly happened on that day? What triggered the violence? What happen to the victims? What happened to the villains?

The May 13 incident was almost 4 decades ago, half of the current Malaysia population probably was not even borned back then. With government reluctant to speak of the issue in details for all these years, Malaysians are living in ignorance from the real the truth.

Recently there’s a UPM textbook chaos where it’s said that the teachings are distorted from the original May 13 incident. I am wondering what ARE the real facts about the incident instead?

The story I know.. probably way distorted from the fact, but this is what I know..

1969 election, Chinese opposition parties won bigger than expected and started a parade (May 12) that angered the Malays.

Some UMNO leaders than organized retaliate parades the other day (May 13) and that’s when riots happened.

Then comes the folks stories of parang (a type of knife) killing, massive rapping, fire burning.. some one sided massacre on Chinese citizens in Kuala Lumpur area, followed by a nationwide curfew.

So how many points should I score for Malaysian history?

The May 13 stories created a few trauma for me since childhood, it’s pretty laughable but I had phobia with parang for years, and I still need 2nd thoughts of getting into any Malay kampung.

Ok what happened after the May 13 incident probably can be tracked from textbook, with the ‘Rukun Negara’, NEP, ISA etc.. Malaysians seem to live in peace of the next few decades, the only racial clash probably was in Kampung Medan just a few years back.

Are we living in real peace? I don’t know, but I don’t think so. They are still too little interaction and understanding between different race, religion and culture. It’s probably right to say...