PUTRAJAYA has not received any requests to declassify a government report on the May 13 racial riots that took place 50 years ago, said Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
Muhyiddin was commenting on calls for the government to reveal the findings of the report on the incident.
He said it was better for Malaysians to move forward with the new government in place, instead of dwelling on the past.
“We must learn something from the past and obviously, nobody wants to celebrate a May 13 anniversary. What’s the point of bringing up old stories?
“The future is more important. That incident should be a lesson to us all and must not recur, and that is more important,” he said in Putrajaya today.
Analysts told The Malaysian Insight recently that under the new government, race relations had not improved, even 50 years after May 13.
They said political discourses were now centred on race and religion primarily because most Malay-majority seats are held by opposition parties Umno and PAS. – THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT
Malay groups insist that ghost of May 13 serves as ‘reminder’
THE May 13 racial riots will continue to be raised if others carry on challenging the position of Islam and Malays in the country, said Malay groups.
They will use the fear of the bloody May 13 riots to deter anyone from playing up issues that could see a repeat of such violence, they said.
Seputeh Umno deputy chief Mohd Razlan Rafii said since Pakatan Harapan took power in May last year, the government has implemented many policies which affected the Malays and Islam.
“As a result, the Malays have lost their power and Islam has been sidelined,” he told The Malaysian Insight.
PH, he said, was influenced by the Chinese-dominated DAP.
“The reminder of the May 13 riots is directed towards the DAP, and not to the Chinese community as whole,” he said.
Isma president Aminuddin Yahaya, meanwhile, said everyone should be always reminded of the nation’s history.
“This is because there are efforts by some to erase the history, especially the situation before the arrival of the Chinese and Indian migrants.
“Today, there are some who want to recreate our history as though it only started since Merdeka (in 1957). This land’s history goes back a hundreds of years.
“We want the people to be aware of the history of this land. We want the non-Muslims to stop playing up racial issues,” he said.
Aminuddin, however, quickly added that the May 13 incident must be remembered for its lessons and not to impose any fear.
“We must ensure that it does not happen again. But we fear that if others continue to question the position of Islam and the Malays, there will be reaction.”
Malay right-wing movement Perkasa’s president Ibrahim Ali said May 13 won’t be an issue if DAP stops playing up its “Malaysian Malaysia” call.
He said the equality policy espoused by DAP was against the special position afforded to the Malays and the Malay rulers as stated in Article 153 and 181 of the federal constitution.
“The May 13 riots happened because of the imbalance in the economic situation. After the May 13 riots, the government introduced Rukunegara, the New Economic Policy and everything was smooth sailing.
“But this one party (DAP) with its equality-for-all policy is the trouble.”
He said Perkasa was formed with the aim to fight and protect the Malay rights.
“These are all issues of national security. Even the United Nations allows for affirmative action to protect the poor majority.”
He also added that May 13 is raised to remind people of the dangers of stoking racial issues.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Institut of Ethnic Studies director Shamsul Amri Baharuddin said only the political elite raise the May 13 issue for their own political gains.
This group has no solution for those from the B40 group as what is needed there is a socio-economic solution, he said.
While the May 13 riots were deeply entrenched in all the races in the country, the reality was that only Malays and Chinese were affected by it, he said.
“The people in the north, south, east coast, Sarawak and Sabah are only playing with the mental narrative of May 13… of things which they have heard of.
“The B40 group does not talk about the May 13 incident. It is only the Malay and Chinese elite who do so for their own interest.”
Shamsul said the people are more rational and would not resort to violence like that of May 13, 1969.
The May 13 riots were the result of the aftermath of the 1969 general election when opposition parties made gains at the expense of the ruling coalition, the Alliance Party.
Official reports put the number of deaths at 196. However, Western diplomatic sources suggested that the number was closer to 600. A majority of the victims were Chinese.
Since then politicians have regularly evoked the ghost of the May 13 riots to remind the people against raising racial issues.
THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT
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