Wednesday, May 13, 2009

MAY 13TH 1969 – A RECOLLECTION

The May 13, 1969 racial riots has been recorded as a dark spot in the annuls of our nation’s history. It was an event that had brought unreasonable hardship and misery to many, and caused fear that still lingers in the minds of those who were directly affected by the riots.

It was politics and politicians that had caused the racial riots, and it will be politics and politicians that will be the instigators to any future ‘disaster’ in this country.

When the racial riots occurred in Kuala Lumpur 40 years ago, I was then serving in Tawau, Sabah. We had no excess to TV, and the radio broadcast was vague and intermittent. Newspapers come in rather late, and from reports received through our own military radio network, we knew that something horrendous was brewing in Kuala Lumpur. And when they say that is was a fight between the Malays and Chinese, I thought it was merely a street fight, kind of a thing. But when images of troops being deployed, and the burning of shop houses appeared in the local daily, I realized that this is no ordinary street fighting.

I was deeply concern for the safety of my parents who were residing at Kg. Datuk Keramat, Kuala Lumpur. I tried calling them through the telephone several times, but the line does not seemed to connect. When I finally reached them, I was so pleased to hear the voice of my mother who sounded calm and settled. I enquired about my father who though retired, was asked to continue working on a contractual basis. He worked at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital, and the riots gave him no respite, but had forced him to remain on standby at the hospital, to attend to the casualties that flowed in.

There was nothing I could do to assist my parents, and to be granted leave was out of the question. In fact, no one was allowed to take leave, until we all finally returned to our home base in Kluang, Johor around November 1969.

I took whatever days I had for disembarkation leave, to return to my parents. I was glad that they were all well. They recounted how difficult it was for them during the curfew period, and they had to store up sufficient food for the days ahead. My mother also recounted that there were soldiers patrolling the roads around the house, and some were kind enough to extend food to the house. From the description that my mother gave, the soldiers were either from the Ranger Battalion or the Recce Squadron. My mother would have easily recognized a soldier from the Royal Malay Regiment if she sees one, because she also had a son from the same regiment……...and that was me.


CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION

6 comments:

komando said...

Dear General, you and I know pretty well problems in this world are most of the time man made and almost always started by POLITICIANS.

THEY ARE ALWAYS FOND OF STARTING A PROBLEM AND NEVER BEEN ABLE TO SOLVE IT!

WARS & Conflicts ARE ALSO STARTED BY THEM - LEADERS, PRESIDENTS, PRIME MINISTERS, KINGS, QUEENS,
MAYORS & LORDS!

SO WHAT IS THERE TO BE SUPRISE ABOUT?

Mohd Arshad Raji said...

Dear Komando,

I suppose without politicians, we do not need an army. The world will be more peaceful, no conflicts and no power grabbing as seen in Perak.

komando said...

Dear General,Truly and surely that would be the ideal situation,
conflicts are man made because of their BIG EGO's, SOME secret personal agenda's and OTHER hidden plans!

Some DO IT to please others and win support most of the time and sometimes IT IS PLAIN vendetta!

The poor guys in uniform whatever colors they wear are just mere PAWNS IN THE GAME, THEY MUST FOLLOW ORDERS OR ELSE! THEY DO THE DIRTY JOBS IN THE NAME OF THE KING AND COUNTRY!

AS A REWARD LATER THEY WILL PUT UP A BIG MONUMENT SOMEWHERE AND CALL THEM ALL HEROES!

HOW I WISH THAT THIS COUNTRY MAKES IT COMPULSORY FOR ALL MINISTERS & POLITICIANS TO WEAR THE UNIFORM AND GO FOR MILITARY TRAINING AND SERVED A COUPLE OF YEARS IN REAL ACTIVE DUTIES.

SEND THEM OFF TO COUNTRIES IN TURMOIL, LET THEM SEE WHAT IT IS LIKE WHEN A COUNTRY IS IN A CIVIL WAR OR IN A CONFLICT.

LET THEM SEE WHAT WARS CAN DO, WHAT DESTRUCTION CAN BE SEEN ON THE GROUND! WHAT HUMAN SUFFERING IS ALL ABOUT.

THEN MAYBE THEY CAN THINK MORE RATIONALLY BEFORE STARTING A CRISIS...ALL THE POLITICIANS CURRENTLY CANNOT VISUALIZE ALL THESE HAPPENING, THEY THINK IT IS FUNNY! THEY THINK MALAYSIA CAN BE SPARED!

LOOK AT SOMALIA,SRI LANKA,
PAKISTAN,AFGHANISTAN & MID EAST..! WE MUST SEND THEM ALL THERE!

LET THEM HAVE A FIRST HAND, HANDS ON EXPERIENCE AS A SOLDIER FIRST, LIVE THERE, EAT THERE AND STAY THERE FOR 1 YEAR.

LET THEM THEN THINK ABOUT IT, BEFORE STARTING ANY TROUBLES OR HAVE ANY STUPID IDEAS.

Haezrikal said...

Dear Dato,

Malaysian government need to send our politicians to Eritrea/Ethiopia border and let them experience driving along the route planted with million of mines and see for themselves thousands of single legged human being.

Why? Why? Why???? ... All started by POLITICIANS.

Ir. Hanafi Ali said...

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Ir. Hanafi Ali said...

The righteous must make the effort to lead or otherwise the leadership will be taken over by the zealots.

That is the basic principles of politics.

The founding fathers of United States of America were religious, righteous men that made up the US Constitutions.

Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

Therefore, if we leave the power to the politicians, we deserve the government that we get.

I am a registered voter and have voted in the last two elections.

Can the other commenters here (and you, to, Dato, if you allow me to be brazen enough to include you in the group) claim the same, i.e. registered voters who vote?