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Was May 13 naturally orchestrated?

Was May 13 naturally orchestrated?
by Azly Rahman

Perhaps it was. That would be the answer to the event that has become embalmed as a semiotic of racial conflict. Perhaps it wasn’t planned. We need more interpretations of this event. If we ban more books on this, we are afraid of holding a mirror to our history and ourselves.

If we encourage our youth to explore the roots of the bloody conflict, we will have a better generation of thinkers. No more “Ketuanan Melayu, China, India,” or whatsoever notions of self-aggrandisement –just the simple act of opening the dialogues of peace.

But was May 13 planned? I have some thoughts.

It has to happen when and because the lid of authoritarianism was lifted. It was the British lid that brought some kind of stability to the lowest of the lower class of Chinese, Indians and Malays.

Root of the conflict

May 13 was naturally orchestrated as a rude conclusion to the violence brought about by the system of capitalist exploitation; a system that operated successfully at various levels. At the top of the pyramid is the British ruling class, next came the Malay aristocrats and feudal lords or the sultans who collaborated unwillingly with the British robber-barons, The Sultans played the role of obedient tax collectors and managers of the industrial age capitalist system of production, run on the ideology of Oriental Despotism. At the lowest rung, true to the feudal production system, are the indentured serfs and the local padi cultivators.

The traditional/hereditary rulers were successful in making sure the rakyat in each state produces cheaply and sell their labour at dirt-cheap price in order for the feudal production system to continue to survive – so that the system could continue to fill the coffers of the British Empire and at the same time help enrich the local chieftains.

May 13 was a symbolic breakdown of this system of oppression — a radical protest against a feudalist-turned-aristocrat-prime minister who served the British well, after being educated in the ways and mannerism of the colonialists. British ideology of imperialism and race superiority/white supremacy couched in “scientific language of Oxford and Cambridge and royal academies this and that” were taught to the natives who would be rulers, so that the panopticon-synopticon matrix of colonialism may prevail.

May 13 was not merely a natural occurrence in the matrix of international capitalist production but a phenomena that occurred in many a society that undergo the stages of economic growth on the one hand and the stages of political conflict on the other. Combining these two, the race riots is a semiotic — political economic phenomena of deconstruction of socio-economic illusioned-stability — a contradiction in the capitalist mode of production. It was a coup d’etat of society against its own internal notion of progress.

It has a similar fundamental character of the pre-Roosevelt Socialist revolt of the 1930s, Paris Uprising of the 1960s, Iranian Bloodless Revolt and Revolution of the late 1970s, the Los Angeles Riots of the 1990s, the Jakarta burn-down of 1998, and the Paris Riots of 2005. In all these, the roots lie in the growth of the underclass and the problem of economic injustices and criminalisation brought about by neo-colonialist strategies of the ruling elite. Dehumanization is a fertie ground for inner repression.

May 13 may have the manifestation of a race conflict, but essentially it is one whose underlying force of mass anger lies in the clash of suppressed classes of varied ethnic origin.

Interpretation of the incident has merely been few. Tunku Abdul Rahman wrote about it to explain why it occurred and how he was part of the problem and solution in one. That was an official historical narrative — a government’s view of what transpired. Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Malay Dilemma offered another interpretation from his point of view, explaining why it happened and what transpired between the Tunku and him. That was another official explanation.

But again, I reiterate, the more interpretations of the incident the better — so that we may have many explanations and find patterns in the meaning of these explanations. One must however be equipped in the understanding of the complex interplay between technologies of control, the economics of oppression, the sociology of mass anger, and cybernetics of conflicts, the archaeology of mass cultural repression, the genealogy of the feudal-oppressive-matrix, and the ideology and power/knowledge dimension of communicative and propagandistic systems — all these — in order to understand the “Butterfly Effect” of May 13 1969.

May 13, 2009?

Maybe it is too early to predict or too dangerous to be Nostradamus-ising or soothsaying or be playing the numerology game of anticipatory politics. Or maybe there will not be a race riots as we are now glued to our television sets and sucked into the abyss and black hole of the Internet, unable to plan for a peaceful revolution nor be ready for any natural occurrence ala May 13, 1969.

Maybe our brain cells have died a natural death out of decades of being fed with the “feel-good” ideology broadcast through radio and television. Or maybe we have been systematically programmed to amuse ourselves to death through a system of mass consciousness and euphoria that has been telling us to be happy with what we have, while the super rich and powerful amongst us continue to rob the nation in broad daylight through a conspiracy with outside forces in the form of investment arms and tentacles.

I still think that the bloody riots of May 13 was an orchestrated natural disaster — something our forefathers of Merdeka/Independence crafted as part of the cultural logic of late capitalism.

We can only know the answers through books we do not ban. Let us stop this pathetic policy of book banning.

71 Replies to “Was May 13 naturally orchestrated?”

  1. “I still think that the bloody riots of May 13 was an orchestrated natural disaster – something our forefathers of Merdeka/Independence crafted as part of the cultural logic of late capitalism.”

    I’m sorry but I find this a lot of intellectual gibberish.

  3. This issue of whether the race riots which occurred between May 13th -15th 1969 were planned and organized, whether it was a coup de’tat or something else etc etc will not cease to capture the imagine of Malaysians for another hundred years – just like the JFK assassination. In the latter case, it seems there is new evidence today that there were more than two shooters!

    Why can’t we just accept the fact that when the Alliance Party lost that many seats to the Opposition in the 1969 general elections for the first time in history, a lot of people were not prepared to accept it. It was so tinder dry that it would take a carelessly thrown cigarette butt to ignite a fire.

    That, I respectfully submit, was what happened in the post-election period in 1969 when street celebrations went out of control, when nerves were so raw on all sides that it took next to nothing for tempers to fray.

    Wives of policemen were insulted in ways that made the recent insults by the two ill-behaved BN MPs looked like kindergarten stuff. Electoral workers were murdered simply for putting up posters. Provocations led to more provocations – until it became necessary by some to respond in a more organized manner en masse. This could have given the appearance that the riots were ‘organized’ from above.

    But to say that it was a planned coup by Tun Razak, Tun Dr. Ismail, Harun Idris and Ghazali Shafie is a *s-t-r-e-t-c-h.

  4. An interesting intellectual explanation but lacks precise clarity as many of the ‘big’ words need to be fleshed out as to the precise meaning. Intellectuals have a way of hiding behind intellectual vagueness.

    His call for many interpretations sounds highly interesting. It is natural for academics to do so.

    Somehow in his explanation of May 13, I find that there is an internal contradiction in his idea that “the bloody riots of May 13 was an orchestrated natural disaster – something our forefathers of Merdeka/Independence crafted as part of the cultural logic of late capitalism.”

    1. Actions of people are not natural disasters. People going around killing others with a preplanned motive is not a natural disaster.
    2. Natural disasters are not orchestrated!
    3. An explanation of an event (May 13) in terms of the larger social forces tend to diminish the responsibilities of those who are the real perpetrators of evil. Larger social forces do not need to ‘compel’ us to do evil.

    The other ethnic groups were also poor in the 1950-60s but they generally chose the way of hard work out of their poverty. If all Malaysians take this way, it will make a difference, instead of asking for easy hand-outs all the time!

    The government should give help to the poor of all races now that the NEP has been reached some years ago. The government will gain credibility if it take steps to make sure that there is a level playing field for all ethnic groups so that they can be proud to be a Malaysian. It is not words, but real, concrete, consistent and visible actions that counts.

  5. Dr Azly Rahman said that “at the top of the pyramid is the British ruling class, next came the Malay aristocrats and feudal lords or the sultans who collaborated unwillingly with the British robber-barons, The Sultans played the role of obedient tax collectors and managers of the industrial age capitalist system of production, run on the ideology of Oriental Despotism”.

    If, as what Dr Azly opined that “May 13 was naturally orchestrated as a rude conclusion to the violence brought about by the system of capitalist exploitation” then rioters from Kampung Bharu and Kampung Kerinchi etc would have attacked first Harrison & Crosfields, Sime Darby, companies or symbols of Malay aristocrats…Why did they attack Chinese and Chinese targets?

    I agree, what a pseudo-intellectual gibberish interpretation!

  6. In the end, the conclusion that can be made about May 13?

    1) Someone started it on purpose by taking advantage of a weak situation
    2) There was a weak situation which no one took responsibility.
    3) The result of May 13 is far from over, in fact, one can say its has not gone very far to our founding ideals. It made progress, at great cost, but limited progress with downsides to come. Why else would we still be interested and debating so fiercely about it?

    The only way to move forward is to admit all of it and enter into a process of reconciliation if we are to reach for our founding ideals. Otherwise, lets move on to something else and stop pretending what we are not and will never be.

  7. i think Azly is more than capable of defending his own words, but my take on his writings are simply this – based on his academic background and knowledge, he thinks that “the bloody riots of May 13 was an orchestrated natural disaster”.

    notice that he *thinks* that this is so. this post was written as an opinion and should be treated as so. but most importantly, notice how he ends with “We can only know the answers through books we do not ban.” he is hinting that the truth may only be found through the unveiling of more knowledge.

    like everyone else, we can only conjecture based on what we know at the time – and Azly has done so. wisely, he asserts that only with more intepretations and views on the matter would we discover the pattern of what truly happened.

    having said that, i hope the readers would attempt to engage their critical faculty first instead of immediately criticising someone’s words which they do not comprehend.

  8. Yes I also find the phrase “naturally orchestrated” a little confusing.

    Bigjoe’s points are very relevant as we still cannot find people who are responsible for even simple errors like building leaks and major problems like issue of Mykads to illegals.

    Maybe the perpetrators used the circumstances to remove evidence so it looked like murder was commited in the heat of the moment.

    After all even in Iraq there have been cases of soldiers killing innocent civilians.

  9. now to counter this effect of the release of the book (which mention that one of the culprit could be Tun Razak), our dear AAB’s SIL is now organising the Seminar on Razak’s legacy. how fast he react. like the chinese said ” San yau si” means probably the body got some shits.

  10. Someone once said that history allows us to understand the past; appreciate the present; and prepare for the future. If history has been distorted then the appreciation of the present and preparation for the future will be sub-optimal. I believe all those perpetrators who had altered the history will have to deal with thier conscience and the almighty God on Judgment Day.

  11. May 13, Malay poverty, Indian poverty (people ignore Chinese poverty), and even jobless graduate – blame all on the British Colonialist. Forget the network of roads and railways, the hospitals, the double storey kampung schools, the colleges and university……that the British were responsible for.

  12. AAB was the secretary to the National Operation Council. He knew the truth but he would stick to the official explanation. He knew very well that May 13 was just an excuse for introducing NEP which was subsequently hijaked to serve ketuanan melayu. AAB was most irresponsible for not evaluating objectively whether the target set for NEP, namely the infamous 30% has been achieved. He used the 92% mandate to bully the non-Malays by extending NEP to 2020. Meanwhile he allows his son-in-law to change the NEP target.

    AAB might appear religious, but his action on NEP shows clearly he has no sense of justice, righteousness, or compassion.

    Any amount of studies would not add to the knowledge which AAB possess on May 13. When the powers-that-be chose to pretend not to know the truth, he would not sanction official enquiry.

    When AAB declared that he was a PM for all Malaysians, I was naively under the impression that his experience at May 13 might prompt him to do the right thing, since he did not appear as a Malay Champion all the while. TDM accused him for not doing enough for Malay. His SIL taking the cue started to be more ultra than Keris-man. AAB declared the extension of NEP till 2020, for a start.

    Even out of power now TDM is still talking about race. The interracial relationship would have been better if UMNO had been open to all races, and TDM needed not have to declare his ethnicity. But once a person has become an actor, it will be till death does acting stop.

  13. History allows us to understand AND also to appreciate the past– just imagine if Malaya had been colonised not by Britian but by Spain. We would be like the Philippines today– armed conflicts between Christians and Muslims and also exporting maids the world over

  14. To me, May 13th means only Malays killing Chineses!

    Three of my Chinese classmates never returned to school after that tragedy. I presumed they were all killed.

    Many of my classmates’ houses were torched. A few of my classmates, their sisters and mothers were raped by the Malays.

    May 13th is non other than Malays killing Chinese!

    Remember delegates at UMO General Assembly threatening the Chinese again about another round of May 13th recently?

    The UMO-led Government is not telling the truth at all. The school history textbooks are just plain lies!

  18. The history is always written by the victors.

    With the wide spread power abuse, cover-ups and corruption by the then and present government, which is the hallmark of UMNO and BN, I am not surprise that the truth of the May13 incident we have come to know and been taught in schools was a distorted version.

    The next generatioins of Malaysians are denied the truth and actual lessons, and this will only serve to undermine the already fragile inter-racial unity and understanding. It is indeed a sad episode in Malaysian history, saddest still for the next generations for they may repeat the same mistake.

  19. ///From:http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/azly.php?itemid=4735

    supersonic wrote:
    Here is a personal account of a friend who was nearly a victim on May 13:

    —————————————
    Today’s paper has already reported that Govt is looking into banning the book – expected. Right? Still trying to cover up the fact that May 13 was pre-planned and that there was hidden agenda. Firstly, get rid of the Non Malay loving simpleton Tunku Abdul Rahman and secondly, scare the shit out of Chinese and non Malays so that they can see the ascendency of the Master Race.
    I do not need to read the declassified documents from England to know that May 13th was premeditated and staged.
    I very clearly remember that day. I was driving my then girlfriend home after school – about 6.40 pm and we were cruising along the Federal Highway just in front of Kampong Kerinchi. Federal Highway then was the main link between KL and Klang and where Kampong Kerinchi then was, there was a sort of hillock – a slope about 30-40 high on the left of the Highway as we drove from KL towards PJ. I remember commenting to wife(now) that there was a very large crowd of Malays all seated on the slopes looking down on cars driving by and saying how it looked so much like those old fashioned western movies where the Red Indians would be seen sitting on their horses at the top of cliffs looking down at the “Palefaces” riding through the narrow valley as if they were going to coming riding down to attack.
    After dropping my wife off in Klang where she stayed, I had a quick dinner there -as usual before I drove back to KL to go to my rented house then in Jinjang. As it was already about 7.30pm, the roads were already dark and I remembered noticing a police car parked at the my side of the road in front of a bus stop across from the EPF Building. As there seemed to be no road lights, I decided to slow down a trifle-(maybe the cops were trying to catch speedsters) and drove on towards KL. When I was about 400 meters away from the Jalan Pantai turn off, I realized that I could see some burning cars in the middle of the road. Slowed down further but now with my high beams on to check out situation only to realize (when I was about 100 – 200 meters from the fire) that there were many “flaming” cars on the road and what was even worse, I realized that there were several Guys in sarongs and pants rushing towards my car with parangs and stones in their hands. Luckily for my having picked up extra driving skills, I was able to do a sort of hand brake/3point turn and drove back the way I came. At least 2 projectiles hit my car as I drove off. By the time I got to where I saw the cop car last, I found that they were gone (probably reversed into Jalan University -in front of Uni Hospital). Not realizing the seriousness of the situation, I decided to drop in to a friend’s house in Jalan Gasing to wait out the situation – I actually thought that there was fighting etc because someone might have killed a Malay in a road accident and that as usual this was the reaction of the kampong folk. I was told of the situation by my friend only when I got to his house. Stayed three nights at my friends house before I could manage to find my way back to my rented room in Jinjang. Another point, my friend’s house was at the very end of Jalan Gasing about half a kilometer from the Mara Campus and we could hear from night one drums/kompang or whatever else being hammered and shouts of bunoh and whatever else from the resident students. You can be assured that the non Malays living in my friend’s housing area sure had many sleepless nights and we all got together a sort of Rukun Tetanga arrangement where housewives were prepared to bang kitchen utensils to warn of any approaching trouble makers while every household started collecting whatever weapons , changkuls etc to defend ourselves if necessary.
    With the situation I went through above, I am more than sure that the massacre was planned as it was obvious to me in retrospect that the Malays sitting on the hill slope (first time I saw anything like that in the 1 plus year I was ferrying my wife home) waiting for instructions on a signal to start their murderous job.
    Regards and May we never see the day when there will be another massacre of innocents.
    19/05 17:26:40 ///

  20. To readers like Loh who is convinced that the race riots which occurred on May 13th 1969 was a coup planned by the father of Najib today’s DPM, my question is:

    Why would the trio Tun Razak, Dr. Ismail and Ghazalie Shafie and Harun Idris (who was at the eye of the storm) want to do that? They were already pulling the strings, making decisions for the Tunku who was already the longest serving happy Prime Minister. He was happy because he no longer carried the burden of responsibility. That burden was placed on the shoulders of his deputy and others who were making policy decisions.

    Tunku had served 13 years by then and was ready to step down and make way to his younger successors.

  21. Orangutan,

    Malaysians are no different from the rest of the global community. We love conspiracy theories.

    What happened between May 13th- May 15th 1969, some almost forty years ago, will continue to be debated as was the assassination of JFK. Since in Malaysia there is no law requiring that official government documents be declassified after 30 years, it will never be known.

    Diplomatic dispatchers by foreign missions in Malaysia to their Head Offices, and communications between journalists are necessarily fragmented. There is a need to fill the spaces, connect the dots to get at the complete picture. Official documents would help fill the void, connect the dots and help in the objective analysis of the events popularly referred to as the May 13th incident.

  22. “just imagine if Malaya had been colonised not by Britian but by Spain. We would be like the Philippines today– armed conflicts between Christians and Muslims and also exporting maids the world over.” by K1980

    Bolehland is following Philippines footstep, in near future or once the oil run dry, the main revenue will be depend on remittance from overseas. That’s the main reason why the far-sighted senile mamak wanted to change back to English medium for the new generation before stepping down……

  23. UMNO and BN do not have a conscience to speak of.

    Almost 40 years later, the truth is still in their closet.

    If there is anything I would believe, I would believe what Raja kamaruddin Petra so fervently believes – and that is, May 13 was orchestrated by UMNO and the younger Turks and ultras to rid a moderate and cosmopolitan leadership under Tunku Abdul Rahman to put in place a racist and corrupt regime. The rot in Malaysia began post-1969.

  24. Let’s not jump to conclusions just based on what this book says. May 13th was a black mark in our history and nobody wants it to repeat. Let’s work towards that, and not backtrack.

  27. bbtan Says:

    ” Who has more credibility, LKY or our leaders of all Malaysians? ”

    should it be “our leaders” of all Malaysians becos;

    a) the Perwaja Steel project
    b) the Proton project
    c) Bakun Dam
    d) leaking Parliament, collapsing Jln Duta Court
    e) MRR cracks
    f) Project IC- Sabah
    g) BMF Scandal
    h) Approved Permit
    i) holdings hands in park
    j) Civil – Shariah court jurisdiction
    k) raising keris by UMNO, but “other leaders” mere mouse
    l) Lim Teck Ghee > 30% equity
    m) Ijuk immediate RM millions development
    n)ketuanan Melayu, the rest pendatang
    o) …………..

  28. “Diplomatic dispatches by foreign mission in Malaysia to their Head Offices, and communications between journalists are necessarily fragmented” – undergrad2

    Better these “fragmented” account rather than …..It is about credibility Dude.

  29. Nothing beats an eye witness account! I was there when it happened.

    We took sniper fire from buildings along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, KL. I saw burnt out cars and houses – along Federal Highway, near the EPF and in Kerinchi Dalam, saw a dead body floating in the river.

    We patrolled the roads along Kampong Baru in the days after May 15th. We saw residents apparently ‘loitering’ along some of the roads, simply staring at us. The hostility was obvious as we were a multiracial unit armed with SLRs semi-automatics. We patrolled the deserted streets of Kepong and Sg. Way.

    By then units of the Malay Regiment were replaced by Sarawak Rangers. Units belonged to the former found it difficult to be impartial when enforcing curfew hours and were a little too trigger happy and had to be withdrawn – replaced by the units from the Sarawak Rangers.

    I saw some dead bodies arriving at the hospital mortuary mostly with bullet wounds and later slashed wounds.

    We provided armed escorts for stranded students in trucks back to the university from a police station from Jln. Gurney. They were mostly Chinese girls.

    I heard personally from one of them who said her Malay neighbors helped evacuate her house which was on fire.

  30. I have known many older folks who had lived through May 13 who believe the first beginnings of the May 13 riot were orchestrated before it escalated and spun out of control beyond contemplation of the orchestrators.

    It is not fair to demand proof – to dismiss it as conspiracy theory just because people like Loh hold that view.

    There may well be many reasons and justifications for the probability of truth in such a view. One cannot reasonably expect the full reasons and justifications (some of which may be anecdotal) to be stated, argued or defended in an open forum like the present by those who believe that the riots were orchestrated for coup.

    In a multi-racial society like ours, it is a sensitive subject and is unwise to finger point names.

    One has ask, if the official version is correct and the ‘orchestrated’, why are three senators calling for action to be taken against the book and author and the Internal Security Ministry officials confiscated 10 of the books from a major bookstore in Kuala Lumpur? What have they got to hide? Let the author’s credibility be submitted to the judgment of the public by the book being free from ban.

    The new book – ‘May 13: Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969′ – is authored by a reasonably renowned academic, Dr Kua Kia Soong, based on recently declassified documents at the Public Records Office in London.

    In a sensitive environment, is it reasonable to suppose that the author, who has also political experience, would just write such things without rational and research basis?

    On the other hand, if what is stated in the new book were true – that the 1969 riots which claimed hundreds of lives were not random acts of communal violence but a coup attempt against then premier Tunku Abdul Rahman – can one imagine the necessary inference and implications on some of the politicians implicated who may be still alive or for those who had passed on but honoured, the implication on their legacy or their heirs? Will not the disclosure in the new book strike at the very premises and justifications for the NEP?

    Assuming that what the new book discloses is the truth, would not there exist an overwhelming vested interest in keeping the truth away?

    If the new book contains untruth, there is no harm in allowing the book to be sold reviewed and contradicted by educated sections of the reading public that could give a good critique to expose its weakness and falsehood.

    If action were indeed to be taken against the book, then on the balance of probabilities, it is more likely what the book said is true than untrue. The point is if the book contains falsehood, the authorities do not need to ban the book but they can take action against the author. I am sure our authorities have no qualms to take action and have a record of taking action against anyone who speaks falsehood.

    In Bolehland more often than not truth is suppressed and falsehood disseminated. Isn’t this true?

  32. ///To readers like Loh who is convinced that the race riots which occurred on May 13th 1969 was a coup planned by the father of Najib today’s DPM, my question is:///–Undergrad 2

    To put the record straight, I mentioned that Tun Razak was appointed by Tunku as Director of the National Operations Council, and that Tunku specified that Razak was to answer to him. Two days later, over TV, Razak announced that as Director of Operation he answered to the King. I consider this a coup, and it is different from what you have written above.

  33. “Tun Razak, Dr Ismail, Ghazali Shafie and Harun Idris were already pulling the strings. Why would they want to plan a coup?” – undergrade2

    Pulling the strings not enough. I want to sit in the chair.

  34. “It has to happen when and because the lid of authoritarianism was lifted. It was the British lid that brought some kind of stability to the lowest of the lower class of Chinese, Indians and Malays.” Dr Azly Rahman

    No matter how one tries to explain May 13th it must be remember that it was an act of injustice towards innocent lives, particularly the Chinese. Whoever the perpetrators are still guilty of violating human rights and should be charge with war crime. I am poor before and I am still poor now, but you don’t see me running amok and kill on sight, and around me many poor people remain peaceful, we all dreaming to be rich but we don’t kill to be rich.

  35. “The traditional/hereditary rulers were successful in making sure the rakyat in each state produces cheaply and sell their labour at dirt-cheap price in order for the feudal production system to continue to survive – so that the system could continue to fill the coffers of the British Empire and at the same time help enrich the local chieftains.” Dr Azly Rahman

    Any different today? Our leaders still adopts an economic system that only themselves are taken care of. The only different today -The traditional/hereditary rulers is UMNO.

  36. “May 13 may have the manifestation of a race conflict, but essentially it is one whose underlying force of mass anger lies in the clash of suppressed classes of varied ethnic origin.” Dr Azly Rahman

    No explanations can ever justified why Chinese should be killed because they are better. Chinese didn’t kill Malay to live a comfortable lives in Malaysia.

  37. “I still think that the bloody riots of May 13 was an orchestrated natural disaster – something our forefathers of Merdeka/Independence crafted as part of the cultural logic of late capitalism.” Dr Azly Rahman

    There is no such thing as killing people in capitalism, in fact making more is ideal. Malays will have to come to term with May 13th and apologize to the Chinese community for their leaders selfish acts.

  38. “Just imagine if Malaya had been colonized not by Britain but by Spain. We would be like the Philippines today– armed conflicts between Christians and Muslims and also exporting maids the world over.” by K1980

    To put the record straight, it is not the Spanish that is directly responsible for the abject poverty of the Filipinos. When the Spanish left and Philippine became independent in 1946, the country was doing comparatively well under Magsaysay from 53-57 when he died in an air crash. At that time Malaya was easily 10-15 years behind the Philippine. The country continues to do relatively well even during the early reign of Marcos (mid 60s to mid 70s) until he abused his power and put the country under martial law and his massive corruption only puts the country as what it is today.

    Coming to May13, I would opine that is a planned massacre, albeit a hasty one. Most of us need no guessing who the ring leader is. I am saying this out of my personal encounter at that time.
    I remembered on that particular day, it was my first driving lesson and my lesson was scheduled from 6pm-7pm. I remembered I requested for an earlier session (5pm-6pm) but was turned down because it had been slotted for a Malay girl. However on that fateful day, I got a call in the morning that the Malay girl is not coming for the lesson and so I took her place.
    My first driving lesson took me to Jalan Raja Laut (think it was know as Princess Road at that time), a Malay area and Kg Baru is just close to it and I pass there at around 5.30pm. The whole area was very quiet and I remembered my instructor who is a Chinese commented that I am luck to be driving in such a situation. I still remembered that the car I was driving was an old Morris Minor and I think the Driving school is called South East Asia Driving School, somewhere near to Petaling Street. I am not sure whether the school is still there. I reached home in Imbi Road at around 6.15
    pm and soon after that there were “rumors” that troubled had started and there were massive killings and burnings near Jln Raja Laut and Chow Kit area. I did not want to believe because I had just return from there a short while ago and it is so calm there.

    However soon after that I knew it was not rumor when I saw people running helter skelter on seeing some army trucks and some brave Chinese men (I believe they are from some gangs around that area) arming themselves with pipes, parangs, sharpen sticks and any thing which can be used as a weapon for defense because of the spreading rumors that the army were shooting the Chinese and I think the rumor is not far from wrong.
    Hence if you put two and two together, for the fact that the Malay girl do not want to turn up on that day is a good indication that many Malays did know about it and the area normally [deleted] with Malays were relatively quiet just before the start of the massacre. It cannot be pure coincidence. It will be absolutely naive to believe that the May13 trouble is an instantaneous reaction due to provocation. It is definitely a planned action to avoid the taking over of Selangor government by the opposition and the Malays involved are stirred emotionally with a common headband making them look like warriors.

  39. “It will be absolutely naive to believe that the May13 trouble is an instantaneous reaction due to provocation. It is definitely a planned action to avoid the taking over of Selangor government…”

    Seen from your perspective from the ground, it appears there was evidence of planning and the killings were not spontaneous. I do not doubt your sincerity in believing so, seeing what you saw and hearing what you heard.

    However, let us try to put chronology of the events right. That could help form an objective opinion of what had really happened.

    Before the crowd gathered at the Selangor MB’s residence, were there killings earlier?

    I believe two election workers were murdered for putting up posters in Penang – or was it Malacca?

    I believe processions by the Opposition took routes unauthorized by the police in open defiance of the conditions of the police permit?

    I believe wives of policemen were openly insulted by those Opposition party workers and supporters traveling past police barracks, with vulgar and obscene gestures, and some screaming “Melayu balek kampong!!”

    Nerves were very raw. Is it not then plausible this led to a confrontation and assaults between groups of individuals?

    What was the role played by criminal elements from both sides in the ‘organized’ killings?

    What was the role played by leaders in UMNO Youth led by Harun Idris?

    The decision to call in units of the Malay Regiment to restore public order in KL turned out to be a poor one as Malay soldiers could not remain partial seeing their own being murdered. They were quickly withdrawn and replaced by other units more multiracial. If this was a planned coup by Tun Razak, why were units of the Royal Malay withdrawn?

    In the final analysis, I believed the killings were isolated and sporadic and not connected – but later these took the appearance of a more organized retaliation as elements, both political and criminal, exploited the situation.

    To: Loh

    If it was a planned coup, the Chief of the Armed Forces was the Tunku’s nephew who sat on the NOC chaired by Tun Razak.

  40. “In a multi-racial society like ours, it is a sensitive subject and is unwise to finger point names.” Jeffrey

    We are trying to get at the facts and to try and offer some explanation and understanding of what really happened. Nothing more than that. I am not trying to apportion blame nor am I defending any party. What good will that do??

    I have not read Kua’s book on the incident but I believe by going through the diplomatic dispatches and reports by journalists who were eye witnesses, does not give us the complete picture we need i.e. of the nature of the events – but only of the truth of the events as they were taking place.

    To those who point to members of UMNO Youth constantly reminding others that a repetition of the May 13th incident is likely if Malays felt themselves threatened again, as evidence that what happened was planned and orchestrated, my message to them is that this is a self serving distortion of the truth.

    The race riots were not the result of ‘planned’ provocations which went out of control. On the other hand, I believe there were lapses by the police which was instrumental in the breakdown in law and order in parts of Kuala Lumpur. Events which were at first isolated and unconnected and were spontaneous then took on the appearance of an organized retaliation as various elements worked in concert. Calling in units of the Royal Malay was a bad move and this worked to compound the appearance of an organized effort to restore the political status quo. This error was quickly corrected before more lives were lost to trigger happy soldiers.

    The estimate by TIME magazine on the cost of human lives in its weekly issue was some 200.

  41. Loh,

    I can confirm what your friend saw happened along the Federal Highway in the vicinity of the EPF Building – and I do not doubt the veracity of the eye witness account given by your friend. Refer to my earlier posting.

    There was this burnt out car (a Volkswagen) and there were bodies of what appeared to be a Chinese couple in it.

    But does this mean the race riots were planned by extremist elements among the Malays?

    A Malay couple was murdered in the vicinity of the Federal Cinema which is a Chinese area.

  42. We will never know the truth as long as the Govt makes it illegal for some many eye witness to share their version of the events on that day. The question should always remain – why the cover up ? Notice how Malaysia never had a change of Govt ? Notice how BN is alway holding on to power no matter what. We will never know the truth until we accept that it was a race riot – as reminded to us by our kris warrior leaders in every UMNO GA.

  43. If it were not pre-planned, please explain how groups of parang, spear wielding youths could come out to attack at several DIFFERENT PLACES (Princess Road/Raja Laut, Kerinchi etc) in the evening at around the same time? How come some were prewarned by their Malay friends in the morning of disturbances? Truckloads of fighters came from out of town much earlier – from Tanjong Karang (everyone knows) ; caches of weaponry ready well before for attackers to come out fully equipped?

  44. Are these eye witness accounts or hearsay??

    Yes, it was by then a planned response to earlier assaults, killings and grave provocations. Such organized response was apparently not without the help of political and criminal elements acting in tandem. preceded by lapses by the country’s security forces.

    You would have to look at the totality of the evidence to find if there was an ‘invisible hand’ working behind all the incidents – not just towards the tail end of it.

    Planned, organized or orchestrated, there are lessons that all Malaysians could learn. In a zero-sum game there is a winner and there is a loser.

  45. Undergrad2,

    I wonder whether you read my earlier posting. I consider Razak’s announcement over TV as coup fait accompli. Obviously I did not sit in the National Operatiom Council to know how Tunku’s nephew could not prevent his uncle from being dethroned. Yes, Chief-of-Staff is a powerful position, but colonels were more successful in those actions. Anyway I am not here to answer how a coup could be organised; it is clearly beyond me.

    ///It is not fair to demand proof – to dismiss it as conspiracy theory just because people like Loh hold that view.///–Jeffrey

    I think the last part of the sentence send a different signal and is not complimantary to me. I beleive it is a slip of the ‘tongue’ and not a fault of the mind. it is not on purpose. A different wording would be

  46. DiaperHead,

    I copied the piece from MT, and I do not know who the writer is.

    ///But does this mean the race riots were planned by extremist elements among the Malays?///

    This is something the government should study and come out with a report on who planned it.

  47. dawsheng, I’d rather believe your comments rather than what undergrad2 wrote at 6.04 am. I repeat my mantra – credibility.
    I believe undergrad2 was giving us the government “authorized” version.

  48. A coup is a coup, a coup involves killing Chinese is genocide. In fact, it doesn’t have to be a coup but anything involved killing the Chinese in large number in Malaysia is genocide. Will Malays own up that it was their leader’s faults and selfishness lead to the bloody incident?

  49. ///Will not the disclosure in the new book strike at the very premises and justifications for the NEP?///

    That has always been my stand, that NEP was just an excuse. It helped to explain away the cause of May 13, and it provided the arguments for UMNO to do what they did in the past 38 years, and continuing.

    I am repeating what I said previously on this blog. The data cited for the corporate ownership for Malays correlate to my observation above. Government figures say that in 1970 Malays had 1.43% of total corporate share capital. It conveniently left out in the figure the networth of FELDA which ran like estates. The networth of FELDA if computed like the branches of foreign companies, the estates, and others would have been worth 20% of the total corporate share capital in 1970. But over the 38 years the data quoted by the government, was 1.43 per cent. ASLI report shows that Malays corporate share capita had more than 30%, the target of NEP, but yet the government insisted that it was still 18.9%. EPU have been given months to justify the data, and the government promised to reveal the truth but nothing came about. All these facts point to the explanation that NEP has been found the best strategy for UMNO to remian in power.

    Assuming that UMNO would recognise parliamentary democracy and would vacate the power when it loses, the ballot papers would not throw UMNO out. Because UMNO has misused the power to endow their potential supporters advantages over the potential adversaries. But the supposedly independent Election Commision has always been under the control of UMNO. The elections that we had over the last five decades would not have been considered fair by the Election Commision of India. Clearly the actions of UMNO in its policies, particularly the NEP is equivalent to vote buying, and would be considered illegal in India.

    So UMNO racist policies will continue, and Bolehland, which has the potential to be the most advanced in Asia has squandered away human resources, the most important of all for progress and develoment. NEP offered the government the ‘right’ to operate in blackbox tranparency, and we are now a country with first world infrastructures in form which never function properly, second world people with overrated paper qualifications not commensurate with knowlege and skills, third world mentality, and soon fourth world social economic progress. All these because UMNO leaders found an easy way out in perpetuating their control on power, and the article 160(2) provided a loophole for people to masquerade as Malay and acted against Malay culture in not respecting hierarchy in society. The hiatus of 22 years will need decades to make amend, if there is proper recognition.

  50. I think that after everything has been said and done, the opposition should be wiser this time around.
    There is a possibility that they, especially the DAP, may bolster their votes considerably this time around.
    So, even when they win big in the next GE, they should have a subdued celebration with no procession or demonstration.

  51. AFP reported ‘Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin pointed the finger at certain media groups for questioning the social contract, at the risk of disrupting racial unity which he said “must be maintained at all costs.” Zainuddin also criticised a controversial book on the deadly 1969 race riots saying it would only arouse anxiety among Malaysians.While the country has largely maintained peaceful ties between multi-ethnic groups, tensions are rising among non-Malay Muslims, who feel their rights are being undermined’ – Source, Malaysiakini.

    UMNO politicians have often cited the May 13 incident when warning of the potential consequences of racial rhetoric or questioning of the so called Social Contract. In the 1990 general election and 1999 general election, May 13 was cited in Barisan Nasional campaign advertisements and in speeches by government politicians. In 2004, during the UMNO general assembly Badruddin Amiruldin , the current deputy permanent chairman, waved a book on May 13 during his speech and stated “No other race has the right to question our privileges, our religion and our leader”. He also stated that doing so would be similar to “stirring up a hornet’s nest”.

    If there are so constant references to May 13 in ruling party’s political discourse as a lesson for Malaysians to learn regarding the preciousness of inter-racial harmony – like telling ghost stories to our children to prevent them from being naughty – why does the Information Minister take such a negative view of Dr Kua Kia Soong’s ‘May 13: Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969′ ?

    Surely you can’t repeatedly ask Malaysians to learn a lesson from May 13 and yet tell them they are not supposed to read Dr Kua’s book. What is the basis for that ? Is it because Dr Kua’s book is lopsided? But how do we know it is lopsided unless we have the chance to read it?

    Dr Kua’s book is based on newly declassified documents including foreign dispatches and confidential reports at the time, which are now made available in the Public Records Office in London after the 30-year secrecy rule over these documents had lapsed.

    If the government claims his book lopsided or contains falsehood, then the onus is on the government to prove it by declassifying its own confidential documents on May 13 to contradict the claims made in the foreign dispatches and confidential reports now made available in the Public Records Office in London.

    Let the merits of Dr Kua’s book be adjudged by Malaysian readers. If you take action against it, the adverse inference will be drawn against such an action as intending to suppress the truth of the book’s contents.

    In any case, how long can you ban it or prevent Malaysians from having access to it? It is an exercise in futility.

    I wish to remind that we’re living in the Information Technology Age in which Dr Kua’s book or, if not, the “newly declassified documents including foreign dispatches and confidential reports at the time, which are now made available in the Public Records Office in London” (upon which the book is based) may be uplifted on to the World Wide Net for immediate dissemination. Does the government want to ban the Net too or infringe the Bill of Guarantee?

  52. The book should not be banned. The timing of the release of this book clearly has motives of its own – about which only the author and the publisher would know or be privy to. What is there to prevent copies from being made or copies from purchased in neighboring Singapore. In fact by banning the book, the Malaysian government has helped in the sales of this book tremendously.

    One is reminded of the banning of the book by Mahathir in 1969. When you read the ‘Malay Dilemma’ with the objective mind of a student of politics or a researcher, there was nothing in it that could be considered racially inflammatory.

    If I may say so the title of the book by Dr Kua Kia Soong’s ‘May 13: Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969′ ? is misleading. It implies from reading the title that the study is also based on documents declassified and released to the public by the Malaysian government. Without the information from official Malaysian governmental sources, the evidence presented by the author is at best hearsay evidence.

  53. “Yes, Chief-of-Staff is a powerful position, but colonels were more successful in those actions. Anyway I am not here to answer how a coup could be organised; it is clearly beyond me.” LOH

    You need to understand a developing country like Malaysia or Malaya which was under western rule before it became independent. In our case we were under British rule up till the mid-50s. We then had a military trained by British officers, imbued in steep western values; our officers were trained at Sandhurst, Australia as was the tradition and elsewhere in NZ and Pakistan. These officers were trained in the western tradition of soldiers everywhere else in the Commonwealth not to take an active role in politics and to be loyal and subservient to civilian as opposed to military leadership. Our leaders were not soldiers in mufti nor was there a need for them to be. Our military played no role in securing independence. No blood was shed as independence was negotiated and by the civilian leadership.

    This was not the case in neighboring Indonesia where the military was instrumental and played a major role in their country’s struggle for independence. Their leaders were military officers, and later soldiers in mufti and held the reins of government. Tradition there is different – and so is the role of the military.

    Our military brass in the 70s, senior officers and second echelon officers were too well trained as professional soldiers to want to seek a political role or their officers harbor political ambitions. It was neutral – and still is. One can speculate, of course, that such political neutrality would be lost or abandoned once UMNO or a Malay political party loses political control to a non-Malay political party or a coalition of such parties. But that is another matter.

    The army is the backbone of any armed forces and in the case of Malaysia in 1969, the Chief of the Armed Forces who has all three branches, including the RMAF and RMN under him was the Tunku’s nephew, the son of his younger brother, the late Tunku Mohamad Jewa. Since it is your submission that what happened in 1969 was a coup you cannot but imply that second echelon leaders in the military were aligned to a group led by the late Tun Razak. That, I respectfully submit, is highly implausible and will not stand up to scrutiny – and without the need to depend on personal and unofficial sources.

    But there was a major realignment of forces within UMNO which made Tunku’s continued leadership of the party tenuous at best, if not completely untenable.

    To know what happened in 1969, we would have to interview leaders who played a key role then. They have long since deceased and their secrets have long followed them to their graves. Memories of UMNO ultras like Mahathir and Musa Hitam who both rode on the waves of narrow Malay nationalism of the early 70s may still present us with a treasure trove of what went on in the minds of political leaders then – but not to expect their memories to be distorted by their perceptions, political loyalties and their life experiences would be rather naïve.

    I do not think an objective study of the events is possible.

  54. I have not read Dr Kua’s “May 13” book yet, but from the blogs I looks like many believed that there is a conspiracy by Razak to oust Tunku.
    Relating to my experience, I remembered clearly that even before may13 1969, there were already policies favoring the Malays heavily. (So do not be misled that all this came only after may13 under the NEP). Because of that there were a lot of mistrust and dissatisfaction and of course that was the main issue in all the election canvassing. I still remembered attending one of Goh Hock Guan’s speeches.

    However those days the Malays were not as powerful as now and definitely not so corrupted except a few guys, especially the “Mohd. Ali” guy. I think you know who organized the boxing match in Stadium Negara between Mohd Ali and Joe Frazier and that guy loose his pants and subsequently was sent to jail for breach of trust by bank Rakyat, if I am not mistaken. In the 60s and 70s this guy was very powerful and even Tunku cannot do much to subdue him. He was even elected as one of the vice president while in prison. In 1969 he was a very powerful UMNO youth leader as he was a super ultra and that’s why today many leaders are following his footsteps to expound their political power.

    At that time many Chinese were very frustrated at their lob-sided policy and poor villages like Jinjang were totally neglected. At the height of the pre-election campaign, a Chinese man was shot point blank at the back of his head by the police while putting up an election banner near Jinjang. I remembered the huge Chinese crowd that thronged the funeral parlor (Cik Seng Tong) which is no more in existence now mainly to show their respect and solidarity. When I was there I can clearly see the bullet hole right in the middle at the back of his head. Sadly but true, this was the result of the Tunku’s command of “Shoot on sight” and to me whatever good of Tunku was marred by this episode and this obviously led the Chinese to be very angry and emotionally charged. How can a leader became so inhumane to command “shoot on site” to fellow Malaysians and if you think that this only happen to the Vietnamese boat people, now you know you are wrong.

    Blaming the Chinese for shouting and cheering after winning unprecentedly so many seats in Selangor is not very reasonable because life has been lost just for putting up an election banner. A bad misfortune followed by some fortune will definitely made anybody glee with joy and celebrate especially the chances of gaining control of Selangor by the opposition is just a whisker away. There was no Wilayah at that time and I am not sure whether Wilayah was carved away from Selangor to eliminate the chances of Chinese taking over Selangor. The main thing is the celebration did not inflict any physical any harm to anybody.

    From my perspective I do not quite agree with the conspiracy theory because in the first place Tunku himself ask for it and he himself knew his quilt for legalizing murder. I think it is circumstances that made Tunku relinquish his power to Razak under the National Operation Council. But obviously Razak had taken the cue from Harun to entrench himself by having a higher end ultra policy call NEP which will be a “Never Ending Policy” Until kingdom comes it will stay and will make the South African apartheid like dwarf and Nelson Mandela a small hero.

  55. “I think it is circumstances that made Tunku relinquish his power to Razak under the National Operation Council. ” pwcheng

    It certainly was.

    After some thirteen years as “The happiest Prime Minister in the world” (in his own words) the Tunku was in fact losing touch with the grass roots. He was indulging more and more in his favorite pastime which was drinking and horse racing and poker with his MCA towkay buddies.

    After all he was a ‘playboy prince’ studying at Cambridge and almost never making it at as a barrister had it not been for Eusofee who many years later committed suicide after years of distinguished service on the Bench. How many knew that the Tunku had an English wife?

    In the years leading up to the 1969 general elections, the Tunku felt isolated. Tun Razak and Tun Dr. Ismail and the others were in fact making policy decisions and then informing him. The moderate senior leadership within UMNO was aligning themselves increasingly with Malay ultras led by the likes of Harun Idris and Mahathir.

    The race riots only hastened the Tunku’s exit from the corridors of power. There was no need to engineer any coup as some readers suggest. Subsequent popular student unrest made sure he did.

    To: PWCheng

    If in fact an order was given to “shoot by sight any curfew breakers (if that was what it was) it was by the then IGP. But shot for putting up election posters?? Even the IGP wouldn’t do that. But there was a couple of Malay election workers who got murdered while putting up such posters.

    Please check your facts.

  56. /// negarawan Says:

    May 19th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
    Let’s not jump to conclusions just based on what this book says. May 13th was a black mark in our history and nobody wants it to repeat. Let’s work towards that, and not backtrack. ///

    negarawan – this is not backtracking. This is wanting to know what actually happened in the past so that it will not happen again in the future.

    Nobody wants to repeat May 13th 1969 – this I agree with you wholeheartedly. And this is exactly why Kua Kia Soong wrote this book. This is exactly why Azly Rahman wrote this article. And this is exactly why LKS posted this article for discussion here – to find out the truth.

    Nobody is jumping to conclusions here. On the other hand, by saying people are jumping to conclusions, you seem to have already made up your mind that the contents in the new book are false or misleading, or that readers came to the wrong conclusions.

    How to work toward that – a non-repeat of May 13th – if we do not know what was the cause, or who caused it? We may be working very hard towards a repeat of this black mark.

    Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it — George Santayana.

  57. What the past may have been. please we cannot change the facts of it. As many of us could have still debate on, it’s the past.
    What are more important is our present and our future generations.
    There was this saying, Our foreparents fought to bring us good future and we fought hard to take away our children future.
    Maybe everyone is right about the past and everyones’ point valid, can we still change the past. Why not we change ourselves for a better future. Why not?

  58. Please all of us today as Malaysian are well educated and studying the past can be a bias.
    Our foreparents then are not as educated as we today. They could have been making decision based on their own best thoughts.
    When the group have gathered big enough, emotional thoughts sinked into everyone to make a different to their then situation. So, our own finding today shows that things could have been better read and expressed before they react. Why not ? Because their era is very much different from us. We, today have the luxuries to obtain information and seek better understanding about history before stating our comments. Please understand that it’s history. Our foreparents have done what they deem best because they want to fight for their children’s future. What they don’t know are there could have been a better choice.
    In fact, we can easily said that one thing leads to another during the incident. Someone could have started some small ‘issues’ and soon ‘everything just fall apart’ and everyone just ‘jumped’ into it and started the ‘bigger’ issue of racism. Today, we can make a big different to our foreparents dream to provide us a better future by being united. We can.

  59. ‘”Dawsheng Says:

    May 20th, 2007 at 1:31 am

    No explanations can ever justified why Chinese should be killed because they are better. Chinese didn’t kill Malay to live a comfortable lives in Malaysia.”

    How are you going to justify the above to the Malays when they strongly believed without the Chinese, they would have a better life. To them Chinese are corrupted, cunning n sly business men and the Chinese has cheated all their wealths and comfort in Malaysia . They are slow and weak and prefer to work and do things at their own pace. They dont care what happening to outside world because this land belongs to the Malay and they can do whatever they want . I m sure majority of them have this thought especially when BN played such an important role to manupalate and brain washing the weak Malays.

  60. Jimm,

    All I can say is that you have put to shame a lot of the bloggers here with your positive thinking and your optimism for the future – and your trust in all men to do good.

    Keep it up!

  61. Undergrad2,

    I now suspect either you do not understand simple english, or it just your habbit to put words into other’s mouth.

    You mentioned that the chief of armed forces was in the NOC chaired by Tun Razak, and implied that he could have prevented a coup, which is equivalent to mounting a counter coup against Razak, if what Razak announce was indeed a coup. I said it was beyond me.

    I also wrote ealier under this thread to put the record straight in response to your statement regarding what I was convinced of. I specifically mentioned also that to me, the announcement by Razak that as Director, he answered to the King rather than to Tunku who apointed him to the position represented a coup. So what follows — your statement
    “Since it is your submission that what happened in 1969 was a coup you cannot but imply that second echelon leaders in the military were aligned to a group led by the late Tun Razak.” is again putting words in my mouth again.

    You can try your level best to exhibit your knowledge or lack of it, but do me drag me into it in the process.

  63. “I now suspect either you do not understand simple english, or it just your habbit to put words into other’s mouth.” Loh

    Neither.

    I was responding to your statement:

    “Yes, Chief-of-Staff is a powerful position, but colonels were more successful in those actions. Anyway I am not here to answer how a coup could be organised; it is clearly beyond me.”

    which I admit by taking it out of context may be unfair to you. But that is no reason to throw personal insults at any reader however wrong they may be, however diametrically opposed the views may be.

    For convenience I should paste the full text here:

    “I wonder whether you read my earlier posting. I consider Razak’s announcement over TV as coup fait accompli. Obviously I did not sit in the National Operatiom Council to know how Tunku’s nephew could not prevent his uncle from being dethroned. Yes, Chief-of-Staff is a powerful position, but colonels were more successful in those actions. Anyway I am not here to answer how a coup could be organised; it is clearly beyond me.”

    Where have I gone wrong in the interpretation? What do you mean by “…but colonels were more successful…”?

    You put your views out there certain that the race riots were orchestrated and there was a coup by Tun Razak to oust the Tunku. My thesis all along has been there couldn’t have been a coup or anything like a coup because there was no need for one. My thesis is what started as sporadic outbursts of race based killings preceded by lapses in law enforcement led to planned retaliation.

    I also said that my thesis is based on the same information you have and that I am not using material or access to material that you do not have. That is fair.

    Be that as it may, my apologies to you if you think I’m putting words into your mouth. You said it was a coup and I said it was nothing like that at all. I said there was no need and hence there wasn’t.

    A coup is a violent, sudden and illegal seizure of power from a government – and it is not even my definition. I understand that the word ‘coup’ could be used in ways that do not involve the military. However you spin it, it was not a coup by any definition.

    A ‘coup’ from within UMNO? I did refer to a “general alignment of forces from within UMNO” which made Tunku’s hold over power untenable. When Tun Razak announced over the radio, like you say he did, that “as Chairman of the National Operations Council, he answers to the Agong” I believe it was meant to dispel any remaining doubts among the Malays and UMNO leaders that Tunku was still in charge. To gauge just how strong sentiment was against the Tunku you needed to be present at the numerous student demonstrations against the man.

  67. Interesting reading .everyone here seems to have a birds eye view of may 13 or some may not be 13.
    Well I was thrilled in bringing in malay dilemma when it was still banned in malaysia by putting it in my motorbike jacket through immigration from singathe pore. I await the thrill.

  68. Tunku was playing poker with his drinking buddies from the MCA as KL burned. Coup to oust him?? You gotta be kiddin’! He has already abdicated power long before it happened. Many people don’t know that.

    I should know. I was there.

  69. You could read the Malay (or rather Mahathir’s Dilemma because he had been sacked earlier by the Tunku) Dilemma by borrowing it from the Red Spot section of the MU library. You didn’t need to have it smuggled in. It wasn’t worth effort.

    The same is happening with Dr. Kua’s book. The government ban of the book serves only to make the public more determined to get a copy. I read the book and I feel it is a let down.

  70. Loh, the old man of the blog! Where are you? We expect you to come out swinging. Don’t pretend you’re not reading the postings since you are so passionate about the issue, convinced that yours is the only right view.

    Hello?? You there? LOL.

  71. Why was there a gag-order on discussion of May-13th? Were Malaysians, then, too immature to discuss it? Why was no one punished for the killings? Why was not any politician publicly held responsible for that number of deaths? Why is the truth not being told, even now? It’s time a dicussion is iniated. Let this be a “truth and reconciliation” effort.

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