Off-route parade caused May 13 riots, says new May 13 book

Off-route parade caused May 13 riots, says new book

Gen Zamrose Mohd Zain looks on as the Royal Malay Regiment Officers Club president Brig-Gen (rtd) Ahmad Zaki Mahmud presents a copy of the book to Mohammed Hanif Omar. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: The victory parade by political parties which deviated from the original route after the 1969 general election was among the causes of the May 13 racial riots, reveals a new book published by the army.

The book “May 13, 1969 Racial Riots: A Security Perspective”, which was published by the Royal Malay Regiment Officers Club, also discloses that apart from party members, the victory parade was attended by triad members and communist agents.

The procession had not followed the permitted route and took a path through the Malay-dominated Kampung Baru in Kuala Lumpur, uttering insults and criticism as they marched on.

Following that, the villagers organised a procession to counter the victory parade, which led to the May 13 riots, according to the author of the book, Maj-Gen (rtd) Nordin Yusuf.

Army chief Gen Zamrose Mohd Zain said the book should be read by the current and future generations to prevent a recurrence of the incident.

He said the incident, which was a black chapter in the history of racial unity in Malaysia, must not be allowed to happen again as it was detrimental to the country.

“I congratulate the writer for his noble efforts in writing this historical event and including the role of the army and the Royal Malay Regiment,” he said at the launch ceremony held at Wisma Perwira Tentera Darat at Sungai Besi prime camp here today.

Also present were former Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Hanif Omar and Royal Malay Army Regiment Officers Club president Brig-Gen (rtd) Ahmad Zaki Mahmud.

In addition, Zamrose said the incident also saw the professionalism demonstrated by the Malaysian Armed Forces when power was handed back to the government after public order was restored.

*********

kt comments:

(1) May 13 was a very very dark tragedy, a trauma from which those who went through its occurrence and aftermath had never quite recover. My several Uncles who were then in the Armed Forces and Police had many sad (and confidential) stories to tell.

* Below I am mentioning Unit official designations, and not implying an entire regiment was engaged - perhaps just a company, or battalion or maybe two.

The Royal Malay Regiment wasn't in KL-PJ when May 13 occurred; the Federation Armoured Car Regiment (FACR) and the Sarawak Rangers were (yes, the Regiment was then still called the Sarawak Rangers). Suffice to say in this post that a few days after May 13 the FARC and Sarawak Rangers were completely withdrawn, only to be replaced by the Malay Regiment. My story as I learned from my Uncles comes to its full stop here.

(2) The riot started NOT because of the off-route victory parade but for darker reasons - full stop!

(3) Regarding the last paragraph (above) of the FMT article, to wit, Zamrose said the incident also saw the professionalism demonstrated by the Malaysian Armed Forces when power was handed back to the government after public order was restored, he is correct in a way; the credit must go to then Tan Sri Lt Gen Abdul Hamid Bidin the Chief of General Staff (CGS).

Tan Sri Lt Gen Abdul Hamid Bidin the Chief of General Staff (CGS)

Today his job title would be a more obvious POWERFUL Chief of the Army but CGS was his title in those days where our military was very British (underplayed) in its practice. But more pompous chiefs came after his time and those subsequent chiefs decided to re-decorate their titles into powerful pompous meaning, wakakaka.

Yes, it was (then) Lt Gen Hamid who advised DPM Abdul Razak not to place Malaysia under military rule. Lt Gen Hamid bluntly informed Razak that once military rule was declared the DPM (subsequently PM) would never get the country away from military control, as seen in neighbouring countries like Indon, Thailand, South Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, even Philippines (for a period).

Lt Gen Tan Sri Hamid and the Chiefs of his sister services, Thanabalasingam (RMN) and Sulaiman Sujak (RMAF) were British trained, very militarily professional and highly respected the apolitical nature of the Armed Forces.

Coming to recent time, when Malaysia started to impose MCO, I appreciated (still do) the professionalism of today's General Tan Sri Affendi Buang who showed himself to be an apolitical professional of the highest calibre, and who wasn't keen in the first place for his military to dabble in police duties and who assured us that the military personnel cannot wallop recalcitrant civilians, wakakaka. Thinking of that Penang cardiologist-fitness jogger- lawyer buruk again, wakakaka.

He stressed that the deployment of military personnel from tomorrow was strictly to assist the police enforce the MCO. Yes, the secondary (not primary) role of the Armed Forces was/is ONLY to support the PDRM, BUT only when the PDRM (in the person of the IGP) asks for such support.