Thank you for writing this much needed and eye opening post. The part about the cangkul sent shivers down my spine. I've heard from so many friends that they plan to flee this country for fear of a reoccurance of 13th May, but I hope such a day will not come.

I was only five years old then but remembered being locked in the house during curfews. When emergency was declared, my dad had to walk for miles to fetch my brother back from school. I certainly do not want my kids to go through that kind of danger. But it looks like we are heading backwards instead of being one Malaysian race. Oh ya, I lived in a Malay kampung but we were one peaceful community back then.

applegal, oh there's so much more graphic descriptions than that... and the racial slurs =(

lilian, thanks for sharing. i just wish i could listen to more stories tho...

wuah this one is so deep ler!

Another rich source of info is from the Aussie newspapers - my Uni library (in US) has a great & comprehensive collections of ALL newspapers from around the world dating over a hundred years old.

I spent one whole week reading a 3rd party point (Aussie) of view and let me warn you - check your emotion at the door.

I did some reading + research for a Moral Studies paper (the college version) on May 13th - it was somewhat like a short story. Got some interviews from namly my parents.

My mother was to celebrate her 21st birthday (May 17th is her birth date) and because of the emergency, she had to cancel it. There were curfews, people getting stuck in certain places because curfew laws were in place, mobs here and there, small bonfires in the heart of KL - it can be hard to imagine now but it's not far-fetched either. Look to the Paris riots for inspiration.

Incidently, if I'm not mistaken, it all started with "Go back home to China/India" and similar slurs days before actual election day. From there, it just snowballed into one big bloody mess.

wingz, heheh.. once in a while have to be deep mah ^_~ get those braincells working. but my blog's got a nice balance no? heheh...

kroni2u, oooh... i never thought about May 13 resources outside of Malaysia. i should check the libraries here then. Hmmm...

Mei, from what i read, it was also "KL is Chinese owned" and "Butoh Orang China" or something along those lines...

My folks never brought up the incident, and I never wanted to ask. It's just as well. For me it will always be a date when some people behaved less like human beings. It's just too bad all the wrong lessons were learnt from the awful experience.

For what it's worth and for the sake of an unbiased perspective, according to my dad (we're chinese), when the Chinese parties won the elections, their celebrations did go over the line...in the form of racial taunting/gloating.

Of course whilst that is certainly no excuse for a massacre, I think it's worth some thought to consider the old adage of tepuk tangan sebelah...

Nobody should be claiming any moral high-horse positions.

Since you're in Aus, if you can get "Government and Society in Malaysia" by Dr. Harold Crouch. Excellent reading, if you want an impartial view of Malaysia's political history.

GS, haven't you ever been curious? i always want to know because stories like that, never asked, will never be known. and everyone has a story.

spot, true. thanks for the book recommendation.

Before I recommend some reading materials, I wud like to remind u that it takes a lot of courage to go thru it. Personally, it is a tragedy that only people who are out of thier mind would like to discuss. 90% of the clash happen in KL and 10% in Malacca & Penang. When i read those books I was only 12 years old. I could not understand the political aspects of the writings. By the time I reached secondary school, I hear different angle of stories from my Chinese & Malay schoolmates. Some Chinese (my seniors) have personally witnessed some incidents such as burning the bus is Setapak area. The rest were just stories passed from other witnesses. When I grew up and live in an almost 100% chinese populated area and pick up Cantonese, I hear a totally different perspective of the stories from the elderly (who hardly speaks Malay or English)And by then, I have totally forgotten the political sentences in the book I read titled " Peristiwa Berdarah 13 May" which in English means "The bloody tragedy of 13 May". I read it in a private library in Kampong Bharu. I was looking for something else and bump into that book.I spent 3 hours reading that in the library. What i can remember is the ruling party have lost the election in Selangor by a simple majority. The Chinese Dominated Party which I cant remember rallied along Kampong Bharu and started abusing the Malays.Then there is one politician from the opposition jumped boat (betrayed and joined the party that lost nad balancer the number of seats in Selangor) The Malays from other states joined the Malays in Kg Bharu to counter with another rally along the same route. This is the point when the serious clashes took place. The Malays were angered by irresponsible rumours that a lot of Malays were killed by the Chinese in KL. So they came is buses from outside KL and started attacking the Chinese in KL. Then the emotions sparked clashes in Chinese dominated areas like malacca & Penang.A lot of innocent Chinese were killed by the more organised Malays that counter provoke. The peaceful rally that was planned went out of control and many older generation blamed the then Mentri Besar of Selangor, Dato Haron Idris for being responsible for the out of control situation. Some blame the Gerakan & DAP party for provoking the Malays. There were reports that some went to the extent of carrying Mao Tze Tung potrait (He was the Chairman of Republic of China then). Some even urinate in front of the Selangor mentri Besar House and were yelling and screaming asking him to leave the official recidence of the Mentri Besar which is in Kampong Bharu (right in front of the Library i went called Pustaka Bakti)Initially the government called in the Army to control the situation but after 2 days pulled them back and put the Iban Soldiers from Sarawak since the initial Batalion of soldiers was all Malays and there were rumors that these soldiers were attacking the Chinese. The Iban Soldiers from Sarawak did a good job since there is no sentiment against Malay or Chinese. Curfew were declared and no one were allowed to get out of thier house and only go out to get food distributed by the soldiers.The book says about 150 people were killed but to some stories I heard from mouth to mouth it was more than 500 people were killed and reports are that some were brutally murdered without starting any provocation. Few Malays went Amok (beserk) However the riot went on for only 4 to 5 days and the peak was on the 13th & 14th of May and occured only in Kg Baru, Dato Keramat, Chow Kit, Setapak, Pudu and San Peng Flats (in Pudu) There were two major incidents which happened in a theatre. One incident happened in REX theatre middle of KL where Chinese hooligans asked all Chinese to leave and attacked few Malays. The other strike happened in another theatre where a bunch of Malays stormed in a theatre in Pudu and attacked the Chinese inside it. Sad to say, all the victims are innocent people. The culprits escaped unhurt.More than 2,000 people were detained by the Police & the Army for various violation. Anyway, those are stories i heard and read but when it happened, I was in Kedah and I never knew of such incidents until I came to KL in 1971 (I was 8 years old then) My advise is, it is not a good thing to read and studied. It will definitely spoil your appetite or take away your sleep. We see about killings everyday on TV around the world and its nothing. Its hard to beleive such things actually happened in our country and at those places that u passed frequently. I do not want my kids to even know about it and do not want it to be part of Malaysian History. It was very very ugly and it reflects a few irresponsible leaders at that time. They surely live to regret. Most of them have died few years ago. Some UMNO leader who brought the issue up recently were much younger than me and do not have thier facts right. They dont understand the consequences. What i understand politically from the book I read was that Tunku Abdul Rahman (the prime minister then)gave too much face to the Chinese while up and coming young Malay leaders were the opposite and think that Tunku were too soft. The incident is the major reason for Tunku to resign from his post and past it to the second Prime Minister Tun Razak. But some of the stories I heard were exaxerated such as free shootings,flying parangs and even some ghost stories.....Be responsible on what u r about to discover. The other source is to talk to people areound 55 years of age or above (who were 19 yrs and above then) who lives in Kg Baru, Chow Kit & Pudu. But be carefull. Most people will take it as an act of provocation. Some will feel humiliated. Know them well b4 aking. U r lucky if they want to tell u stories about it.

I'm really impressed by your post and am very inspired by it.Im still young but i've heard stories from my parents and uncles tht really sent shivers down my spine.
also, a word to zam, no offence but u said u dont want your kids to know bout this tragedy.How do you expect them to really appreciate the peace and harmony we have if you don't show them the consequences that they will possibly face if they do not cherish it??