The 13th of May 1969

13th May 1969,
This is a very important date in the Malaysian history.
This is the day that the different races were in riot after the election.

The May 13 Incident is a term for the Sino-Malay sectarian violences in Kuala Lumpur (then part of the state of Selangor), Malaysia, which began on May 13, 1969. The riots led to a declaration of a state of national emergency and suspension of Parliament by the Malaysian government, while the National Operations Council (NOC or Majlis Gerakan Negara, MAGERAN) was established to temporarily govern the country between 1969 and 1971.

Officially, 196 people were killed between May 13 and July 31 as a result of the riots, although journalists and other observers have stated much higher figures. Other reports at the time suggest over 2,000 were killed by rioters, police and Malaysian Army rangers, mainly in Kuala Lumpur. Many of the dead were quickly buried in unmarked graves in the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital grounds by soldiers of Malaysian Engineers.

The government cited the riots as the main cause of its more aggressive affirmative action policies, such as the New Economic Policy (NEP), after 1969.

The riot ignited the capital Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding area of Selangor — according to Time, spreading throughout the city in 45 minutes. Many people in Kuala Lumpur were caught in the racial violence—dozens were injured and some killed, houses and cars were burnt and wrecked, but except for minor disturbances in Malacca, Perak, Penang and Singapore, where the populations of Chinese people were similarly larger, the rest of the country remained calm. Although violence did not occur in the rural areas, Time found that ethnic conflict had manifested itself in subtler forms, with Chinese businessmen refusing to make loans available for Malay farmers, or to transport agricultural produce from Malay farmers and fishermen.

Incidents of violence continued to occur in the weeks after May 13, with the targets now being not only Malay or Chinese but also Indian. It is argued that this showed that "the struggle has become more clearly than ever the Malay extremists' fight for total hegemony."

According to police figures, 196 people died and 149 were wounded. 753 cases of arson were logged and 211 vehicles were destroyed or severely damaged. An estimated 6,000 Kuala Lumpur residents — 90% of them Chinese[verification needed] — were made homeless. Various other casualty figures have been given, with one thesis from a UC Berkeley academic, as well as Time, putting the total dead at ten times the government figure.

Today, I heard a tale of the 13th May incident straight from the mouth of a victim of the riot.
He lives with his family by th border of Kuala Lumpur.
The population there were mostly Chinese gangsters.
They were one of the small group of Indians living there.
It is only thanks to the gangsters that they were protected.
During the time of incident, a curfew was done.
During the time of incident, many people faced injury.
According to this family, many screams was heard, many gunshots was fired, gangsters moving around and slashing people.
But one of the sadest thing I heard from it was this:
A little girl was crying and wanted to see her brother.
When she opened the curtain, the police just opened fire.....and the girl died on the spot.
The mother of the family who told me this true tale, out of fear faced some kind of a shock and got into a state which I'm not sure how to explain.

Behind all this, I'm sure many,many things had happened during this incident.
But it is through this incident that we are able to live as one multiracial, multireligious and multicultural country.
But as citizens of Malaysia, we must never ever forget this important date, the 13th of May 1969, a day of violence,fear and sadness, a incident that brought us together.