Does May 13 mean anything today?

It is high time that we lay Malaysia's moment of shame to rest.

COMMENT

What is May 13, really? All I know about it is what I’ve heard from the chest-thumping of the ultras, and from the brief, almost embarrassed entry on the event in our Sejarah textbooks back in school. Every time I hear that date mentioned by a politician or would-be politician, it’s accompanied by the threat that history will – will, mind you, not could – repeat itself unless this community or that community accedes to the demands made by the bigots and extremists of our beautifully dysfunctional country.

I was not there on May 13, 1969. In fact, I was born 20 years later.

Generations have passed since that black day. Malaysians of my generation, born in a time of relative peace and stability, blessed with the ability to assimilate and freely associate, have no context in which to identify with this so-called national trauma. We were nurtured with the idea of unity and harmony in mind, free from the scars left by the event on the Malaysian psyche.

And yet, it seems like Malaysians cannot let go of the past. Instead, some see May 13 as a weapon to be brandished against those they don’t like, as if it were something to be proud of, as if a show of uncivilized violence is something to be bandied about the instant you don’t agree with something. It is a national embarrassment any time somebody brings up May 13, as it hints that even though we are nearly 50 years removed from it, somebody thinks that it was the greatest thing to happen to Malaysia, a reminder to the “uppity” Chinese to never be so presumptuous ever again.

I shudder to imagine that 50 years from now, there will still be extremists and bigots harping on May 13. Over the past week, we’ve seen that date brought up not once, but thrice, all with implied threats that I for one am sick to death of hearing.

The worry is that if we allow this situation to continue, May 13 might really occur again, if only because certain parties refuse to let go of the past and continue to rile up fears and stoke racial sentiments when, by and large, Malaysians just want to live in peace. The current slow-burning murmur of racial intolerance brings to mind a pre-World War II Germany in all the wrong ways. All that evil needs to find its victory is for those who know better to do nothing.

The insidious lever of May 13 has lost its power and its significance. We are a civilized society, and we should learn to resolve our problems with rational discussion and compromise between parties or communities. Civilized conduct is not stating your terms and demands, and then threatening violence should they not be met. That would be gangsterism. We as Malaysians must believe and hope that we have somehow progressed far enough that we can sit down and find amicable resolutions to matters at hand.

The irony was delicious indeed when the protesters at Datum Jelatek were told by the PKNS that in fact 674 units of the condominiums they were protesting against were registered to Bumiputera buyers. They had tripped over themselves to proclaim that it was a plot by the DAP to consolidate a Chinese presence in a “100% Malay” area. Had they eschewed illogical racial sentiment and resorted to civilized conduct, perhaps they would have discovered that fact earlier, and this whole brouhaha could have been avoided entirely.

I for one am tired of hearing May 13 this, May 13 that, every single time anyone is offended or is trying to assert his rights. We have entire generations born after the fact, and yet we still cling to a moment of shame in our past like a weapon to use against those we disagree with when it is obvious that we need each other to move forward. Let May 13 rest, and let us consider how we can craft a better Malaysia together.