May 13 - A Recollection

Mom was 16. They were staying at Cheras Batu 2 1/2, near the legendary field which produce Mokthar Dahari and near Cochrane Road School, which is where DBKL built a hall along Jalan Loke Yew. Grandpa decided not to open his stall at Central Market that day. The situation was tense from what was being heard in KL due to the massive win of the Democratic Action Party. Rumours were spreading that the Malays were going to attack the Chinese. Everyone was scared.

Grandpa and grandma quicklty packed up some food in case they need to make a run and gathered everyone. They all sat quietly waiting at furthest back of the tiny little wooden house, at the back of the kitchen. Grandpa took a radio to the kitchen, to listen to any news on what is happening outside.

No one dared venture outside. The usually lively squatters was extremely quiet that day. Then a few knocks on the door...everyone was quiet and dared not answer...then a few knocks again...and a few knocks again...then someone called my grandpa's name softly..."Ah Chong...Ah Chong...are you inside??" I took another few more calling before my grandpa opened the door, only after he was sure that it was the youngster from the sundry shop.

They continued their conversations in front of the house, whispering to each other. Then he came to the kitchen and gathered everyone. They walked out of the house and quickly hurried themselves to the wood-processing factory nearby.

Along the way to the factory, mom and family was accompanied by some young Chinese. They were the gangsters at the squatters, some with scars on their hands, some with tattoos. Each on of them were holding a parang, some samurais and others metal rods. 

Upon reaching, they were led to the wooden planks stores and were told to hide there. There were also a few other neighbours there. Everyone look frightened, not knowing what is happening outside. After some whispers here and there, mom found out that some other neighbours have gone to Chan Sow Lin and were also hiding at some factories.


Before the Chinese youngsters left, a few more youngsters came and grab some more parangs, samurais and metal rods from the store, hidden among the planks of woods. Mom took a peep saw a huge load of weapons hidden in between.
 
Then someone called out in Malay...everyone panicked, thinking that they were ambushed...everyone kept quiet..after a long wait, Grandpa whisper "Don't worry, he is Pak Mat, he and a few others will help guard around the squatters". The day went by and soon night fall. That night, mom heard on radio where emergency was declared by Tunku Abdul Rahman. 
 
Mom heard from one of the neighbours that a massive blood shed had broke out at Tai Wa cinema (old Cathay cinema along Jalan Pudu, now an empty lot with a bus station). There were scores of people inside the cinema, watching a just up-on-the-screen new movie. Suddenly, they were attacked and a lot were dead. They couldn't escape.
 
Some of the Chinese gangsters who were around just managed to gather some people, withhold them and fought them off, trying to save as many people as possible. There were also some Malays locals around who helped out, trying to pull away people and hide them around, under the drain, inside shops, anywhere, anywhere they can. The slashing soon backed off and moved back towards Puduraya. Mom also heard that many Malays were also hurt.
 
Mom's tears flowed down her cheek. Til today no one know how many were sacrificed.  
 
The FRUs arrived shortly, trying to help as much as possible. Apparently, the FRUs were also up in arms against the Police as well, as during that time, the FRUs were made up of mainly Chinese while the Police were Malays. The FRUs soon rounded up some Chinese gangsters and instructed them to help stand guard around their villages.
 
The FRUs helped manned the main roads leading to the villages. Some Malays volunteered to help, manning the intersections into the villages together with the Chinese gangsters and patrol around at night.
 
Throughout the night, there were some noises outside the factory and around the squatters. Footsteps of people running around quickly. Rays of torch lights occasionally seen blared into the factory. However, no untowards incident happened. Everyone stayed at the factory for a few days, with the Chinese and Malay youngsters taking turns to bring food to the factory and taking turns patrolling. It was only after the Soldiers came that everyone dared go back to their houses. And everyone was glad that nothing untowards happened to any of the villagers in the squatters.
 
It was an unforgettable day in Malaysia history. And with that incident shaped the path of our society today.
 
I could not understand her feelings, everytime she told me her stories of May 13. I can just imagined how bad it was and how it has traumatized my family and the rest of the Chinese society from that era.
 
And not too long ago, I do had a near encounter of the feeling of some sort, if not entirely similar. It was 8 March 2008. We were back at the nerve centre, to hand in the results from the polling centre I was taking charge of, and it was a win from the school. On the way back, my friend called and said that Khalid has won Bandar Tun Razak. I was jumping.
 
I was even more estatic when unofficial results started to flow in and more schools were reporting majority wins. It was not what we expected, as we expected a tough fight. Soon calls started to flow in, we have won most seats in KL and Selangor is looking good, very good....
 
Crowds outside were celebrating, shouts can be heard. We quickly gathered some people and ask them to tone down, fearing any untowards incident. And coincidentally, the nerve centre was also in Pudu, behind the old Tai Wa cinema. Creepy.
 
Shortly we head to the nomination centre, waiting anxiously for the polling officer to annouce the results. We knew we have nailed it and were just waiting for the official results. Then my phone rang, my friend from Penang called. He told "Tsu Koon lost and they have lost Penang". An eery feeling suddenly crept in. Flashback of the stories of May 13 that my mom told me. I told him KL is down and Selangor is on the way.
 
I quickly asked him to go home where ever he is. He was jolted awake suddenly by me and realised that situation is very uncertain and anything could have happened, had any Ultras just threw a stone or bottle somewhere. I called my wife asking her to stay indoors.
 
Nothing did happened that night and on the next Sunday morning, we proudly watched on TV, announcing a major political tsunami in Malaysia. I was glad, but I couldn't stop a sigh of relieve that nothing happened.
 
I realised that we young Malaysians had grown away from May 13. While I do not really understand the feeling of them who had encountered it, we do need to remember what happened. But it is not for us to remember to hate, but for us to remember to cherish this is part of our history and to learn from the mistakes made and to further improve ourselves.
 
Looking back at mom's recollection of May 13, we can see that not all Malays are Ultras. Mom said that there were very glad that Pak Mat and some came helping and stood guard. And likewise, Pak Mat was very sad on what has happened to those at Tai Wa cinema, and some were friends that were lost there. Even today we all knew that not all Malays are Ultras and they don't stir up May 13 but instead understand why it had happened.
 
Its already 42 years since then. And today, as a proud young Malaysian, I can proudly say that we have moved past May 13 as demonstrated last March 08.
 
And today let us rejoice together as a peace loving Malaysian and celebrate this day!!!!
 
Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia
 
 
 
 
 
 

What The Chinese Want - by Khee Thuan Chye

A very well written reply by dramatist & journalist Khee Thuan Chye in response to Utusan Malaysia's Orang Cina Malaysia, apa lagi yang anda mahu?

Reproduce verbatim based on article from Free Malaysia Today's website - What the Chinese Want

What the Chinese want Sun, 02 May 2010 10:10


By Kee Thuan Chye

Every time the Barisan Nasional gets less than the expected support from Chinese voters at an election, the question invariably pops up among the petty-minded: Why are the Chinese ungrateful?

So now, after the Hulu Selangor by-election, it’s not surprising to read in Utusan Malaysia a piece that asks: “Orang Cina Malaysia, apa lagi yang anda mahu?” (Chinese of Malaysia, what more do you want?)

Normally, something intentionally provocative and propagandistic as this doesn’t deserve to be honoured with a reply. But even though I’m fed up of such disruptive and ethnocentric polemics, this time I feel obliged to reply – partly because the article has also been published, in an English translation, in the Straits Times of Singapore.

I wish to emphasise here that I am replying not as a Chinese Malaysian but, simply, as a Malaysian.

Let me say at the outset that the Chinese have got nothing more than what any citizen should get. So to ask “what more” it is they want, is misguided. A correct question would be “What do the Chinese want?”

All our lives, we Chinese have held to the belief that no one owes us a living. We have to work for it. Most of us have got where we are by the sweat of our brow, not by handouts or the policies of the government.

We have come to expect nothing – not awards, not accolades, not gifts from official sources. (Let’s not lump in Datukships, that’s a different ball game.) We know that no Chinese who writes in the Chinese language will ever be bestowed the title of Sasterawan Negara, unlike in Singapore where the literatures of all the main language streams are recognised and honoured with the Cultural Medallion, etc.

We have learned we can’t expect the government to grant us scholarships. Some will get those, but countless others won’t. We’ve learned to live with that and to work extra hard in order to support our children to attain higher education – because education is very important to us. We experience a lot of daily pressure to achieve that. Unfortunately, not many non-Chinese realise or understand that. In fact, many Chinese had no choice but to emigrate for the sake of their children’s further education. Or to accept scholarships from abroad, many from Singapore, which has inevitably led to a brain drain.

The writer of the Utusan article says the Chinese “account for most of the students” enrolled in “the best private colleges in Malaysia”. Even so, the Chinese still have to pay a lot of money to have their children study in these colleges. And to earn that money, the parents have to work very hard. The money does not fall from the sky.

The writer goes on to add: “The Malays can gain admission into only government-owned colleges of ordinary reputation.” That is utter nonsense. Some of these colleges are meant for the cream of the Malay crop of students and are endowed with the best facilities. They are given elite treatment.

The writer also fails to acknowledge that the Chinese are barred from being admitted to some of these colleges. As a result, the Chinese are forced to pay more money to go to private colleges. Furthermore, the Malays are also welcome to enrol in the private colleges, and many of them do. It’s, after all, a free enterprise.

Plain and simple reason

The writer claims that the Chinese live “in the lap of luxury” and lead lives that are “more than ordinary” whereas the Malays in Singapore, their minority-race counterparts there, lead “ordinary lives”. Such sweeping statements sound inane especially when they are not backed up by definitions of “lap of luxury” and “ordinary lives”. They sound hysterical, if not hilarious as well, when they are not backed up by evidence. It’s surprising that a national daily like Utusan Malaysia would publish something as idiosyncratic as that. And the Straits Times too.

The writer quotes from a survey that said eight of the 10 richest people in Malaysia are Chinese. Well, if these people are where they are, it must have also come from hard work and prudent business sense. Is that something to be faulted?

If the writer had said that some of them achieved greater wealth through being given crony privileges and lucrative contracts by the government, there might be a point, but even then, it would still take hard work and business acumen to secure success. Certainly, Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, who is one of the 10, would take exception if it were said that he has not worked hard and lacks business savvy.

Most important, it should be noted that the eight Chinese tycoons mentioned in the survey represent but a minuscule percentage of the wider Chinese Malaysian population. To extrapolate that because eight Chinese are filthy rich, the rest of the Chinese must therefore live in the lap of luxury and lead more than ordinary lives would be a mockery of the truth. The writer has obviously not met the vast numbers of very poor Chinese.

The crux of the writer’s article is that the Chinese are not grateful to the government by not voting for Barisan Nasional at the Hulu Selangor by-election. But this demonstrates the thinking of either a simple mind or a closed one.

Why did the Chinese by and large not vote for BN? Because it’s corrupt. Plain and simple. Let’s call a spade a spade. And BN showed how corrupt it was during the campaign by throwing bribes to the electorate, including promising RM3 million to the Chinese school in Rasa.

The Chinese were not alone in seeing this corruption. The figures are unofficial but one could assume that at least 40 per cent of Malays and 45 per cent of Indians who voted against BN in that by-election also had their eyes open.

So, what’s wrong with not supporting a government that is corrupt? If the government is corrupt, do we continue to support it?

To answer the question then, what do the Chinese want? They want a government that is not corrupt; that can govern well and proves to have done so; that tells the truth rather than lies; that follows the rule of law; that upholds rather than abuses the country’s sacred institutions. BN does not fit that description, so the Chinese don’t vote for it. This is not what only the Chinese want. It is something every sensible Malaysian, regardless of race, wants. Is that something that is too difficult to understand?

Some people think that the government is to be equated with the country, and therefore if someone does not support the government, they are being disloyal to the country. This is a complete fallacy. BN is not Malaysia. It is merely a political coalition that is the government of the day. Rejecting BN is not rejecting the country.

A sense of belonging

Let’s be clear about this important distinction. In America, the people sometimes vote for the Democrats and sometimes for the Republicans. Voting against the one that is in government at the time is not considered disloyalty to the country.

By the same token, voting against Umno is also voting against a party, not against a race. And if the Chinese or whoever criticise Umno, they are criticising the party; they are not criticising Malays. It just happens that Umno’s leaders are Malay.

It is time all Malaysians realised this so that we can once and for all dispel the confusion. Let us no more confuse country with government. We can love our country and at the same time hate the government. It is perfectly all right.

I should add here what the Chinese don’t want. We don’t want to be insulted, to be called pendatang, or told to be grateful for our citizenship. We have been loyal citizens; we duly and dutifully pay taxes; we respect the country’s constitution and its institutions. Our forefathers came to this country generations ago and helped it to prosper. We are continuing to contribute to the country's growth and development.

Would anyone like to be disparaged, made to feel unwelcome, unwanted? For the benefit of the writer of the Utusan article, what MCA president Chua Soi Lek means when he says the MCA needs to be more vocal is that it needs to speak up whenever the Chinese community is disparaged. For too long, the MCA has not spoken up strongly enough when Umno politicians and associates like Ahmad Ismail, Nasir Safar, Ahmad Noh and others before them insulted the Chinese and made them feel like they don’t belong. That’s why the Chinese have largely rejected the MCA.

You see, the Chinese, like all human beings, want self-respect. And a sense of belonging in this country they call home. That is all the Chinese want, and have always wanted. Nothing more.

Dramatist and journalist Kee Thuan Chye is the author of 'March 8: The Day Malaysia Woke Up'. He is a contributor to Free Malaysia Today.