YOUR SAY | “History is for the living and the dead.”
COMMENT | The May 13 disease is still troubling the nation
Ashaari Imran Azman Shah: Obviously I took a lot of flak for this (trying to clear the name to my grandfather, former Selangor menteri besar, Harun Idris). Haroon is said to have been involved in the May 13 riots.
But if you read the article, I agree with Suaram founder Kua Kia Soong that there should be open conversation for that as it continues to have a a disease in our society related to the May 13 race riots.
Just as the author of the article points out that viewing the incident as the culmination of the Sino-Malay conflict is incorrect, ignoring all the subtleties surrounding it also makes things difficult.
I have done a lot of interviews and read a lot on this topic and I invite readers to listen to the various characters in and around the incident and draw their own conclusions.
Interviews are available at The Diaries of Haroon Idris podcast and features interviews with former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former Deputy Prime Minister Musa Hitam, former Gua Musang MP Tengku Razali Hamzah (Koo Lee), DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang and others.
(Harun Idris Diaries)
I’m happy to have a conversation about this anytime, as it’s worrying that many of the underlying factors are still at work.
Green Puma6563: Relevance of reading history all the way to university level? Does that make you an expert and do you have facts that support or debunk what the article says?
If you have facts that support either camp, please share them.
My grandfather was in the criminal investigation department, my father was a famous journalist. Both were alive and serving the nation when May 13th rolled around.
Their personal accounts of May 13 (and who might have been the true instigators of this black mark on our nation’s history) are no different from what is written in this article.
Both were silenced then with fear of Homeland Security Act and the Official Secrets Act.
Don’t try to silence opposing views now. As a student of history, you should know very well that history is about the living as well as the dead.
As for the living, we learn from the mistakes of our ancestors (the dead) and try not to repeat them in hopes of creating a better future for our descendants.
Rejoice in the greater openness we have now. Confront the elephant in the room. If you don’t look or talk about it, it doesn’t change the fact that the beast is there.
Stephen Ong: If we don’t face the facts and the truth, the root cause is still there and can erupt again when the atmosphere is right.
With religion-phobia, no one wants to talk about it, because the explosives are covered with a thin layer of sensitivity. Those who talk about it seriously or in jest have had to pay.
Most only talk about the political side and avoid the religious side, but PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang did exposed that the religious side is a political tool and it is valid.
That is why he is still free to speak even more. As usual, DAP is the main victim because DAP is believed to be the enemy of this religion and race.
Soon after 1969, Umno-BN began the teachings and training that became laws and policies to ensure that the religion’s agenda was protected from abuse by the elitist individuals who formulated it.
It is now so deeply rooted that no one seems to be able to defuse it, not even Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who has had to accept the reality and culture of this toxic shady it is sweet for many but bitter for minorities.
Let us face the truth and pray together for peace and harmony so that this does not happen again. But first we have to accept and face the truth about this monster that has been sleeping for a while. Hadi’s loud noises might wake him up again.
Apanama returns: Looking back at May 13, 1969 the incident reminds me of the bigger picture. It was actually a coup d’état.
It was not only to overthrow our late first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, but also to bring down the progress of our country by looting and enriching to form an elite group while ordinary men and women live in a poverty and middle class trap scenario.
Look at our country after May 13, 1969. Where are we now after that coup?
I can’t comment on anything special as most of us know the real situation. Politicians like the late Second Prime Minister Abdul Razak Hussain laid the country’s wrong foundation after seizing power.
Our country has gone in the wrong direction. Razak’s move to bring Mahathir back to Umno was the biggest mistake for which the country is still paying the price.
We only need one or two wrong people to destroy a country and several generations.
Malaysia is a good example of what went wrong after this coup d’état. I hope the younger generations learn from history how not to run a country like the politicians of the nation’s darkest day did.
Red Wolf4463: The problem is that the perpetrators of racial and religious incitement and their successors were never punished.
Rather, they were glorified as defenders of a particular race and continued to organize meetings and proclamations who perpetuate the seeds of their own self-destruction and blame others for it.
(proclamations)
This will go on and on unless they are dealt with fairly and dealt with swiftly as a deterrent to others.
Just a common man: We hear you loud and clear. Most of the readers of Malaysian women do.
Unfortunately, this is the wrong platform to post your very well written article. Those who need convincing are not here.
Something has to be done – and fast. But it doesn’t seem like anyone does, including Anwar.
Maybe there is a plan or maybe not. But for the sake of our country, I very much hope he does.
It is scary to think that Afghanistan was once a thriving democracy. I hope our beloved country is not doomed to the same fate.
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