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Compilation from Tin… on MAY 13, 1969 (513) AS I REMEMB

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As another Anniversary comes, the prayer of many of us is, “Lord, NEVER again!”

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*MAY 9, 2014: REMEMBERING MAY 13, 1969

In a few days, we come to the anniversary of our darkest days. Not a day for celebrations but a day to reflect when many lives were lost and our nation was confronted with its worst nightmare of having its own people turning against each other for no other reasons but race.

WHAT I REMEMBER OF MAY 13, 1969

When the Riots broke out on May 13, 1969, I was 19 and working at the Mercantile Bank (since then, absorbed by the Hong Kong Bank).

PART 1

1 The whole family was in Ipoh except for my eldest sister, who was at the Specialist Teachers’ Training Institute in KL.

We heard nothing of the riots at all from TV or radio. On the morning of May 14, our telephone did not work. TV1 and TV2 kept posting the word  PENGUMUMAN (ANNOUNCEMENT)  all day and night, and a CURFEW was announced some time in the morning. It was announced early enough for people to tell their neighbours NOT to go to work or market, or out at all.

2 Somehow, Father heard that there were racial riots in KL. By what means? I don’t know to this day. We began to worry about my eldest sister. (We were relieved to learn on the 3rd day that she was safe, but more of that later.)

3 My eldest brother, a graduate in medicine from UM, had got a posting as a houseman at the University Hospital, KL, but was home on holiday. He was getting impatient. He had a strong desire to get to the University Hospital to help out.

4 Somehow, news got through. Chinese and Malay were fighting and troops/police had shot many rioters. A young doctor, a Chinese, rumour had it, was shot dead at a road block manned by police and army. He had answered the government’s call for all doctors to go to the nearest hospital but had had an unfortunate end. That decided itfor Father. Eldest brother was NOT going anywhere. Home was safer.

5 TV and radio stations kept playing nationalist music all day and night, interspersed with PENGUMUMAN.

6 We saw no one on the road although, on the second morning, a Malay policeman had ridden past at top speed on his bicycle, frantic with fear. Did he think we would attack him? Nobody was on the street at all. Once a while, someone went out to the compound of the house, and my father also went outside, and he and the neighbours on the left and right would engage in whispered conversations over the fence.

7 We didn’t starve except that a diet of rice and ikan bilis, rice and pork luncheon meat, rice and sardine, rice and dace, didn’t do much for the appetite.

8 Father had finished all his cigarettes on the second day and being an addict, had to have a cigarette. “Go to the sundry shop down the road and buy me a pack of cigarettes,” he instructed me. Huh? Was he serious? Yes, a quick glance at his stern face was enough to send me out the door and down the road. The danger of being shot by a passing policeman was quickly overcome by the thought of his fury. You may have heard the saying, A hungry man is an angry man. I knew from young that A cigarette-craving father is a furious father!

9 The grocer was not surprised when I arrived. One look at me from his peephole and out he rushed to his gate. One hand held out a packet of cigarettes (he knew my father’s brand) and the other took my money and handed me the change. The transaction was brief and quick.

I ran back home and gave the drug-sticks to Father. Mission accomplished.

…

PART 2

1 The curfew meant that I didn’t go to work. It was very boring being at home all the time, with brief excursions outside the house, into the compound. The back compound was safer, being out of sight of the road. We had no back lane. A house occupied by an extended family of Sikhs was right behind. There was no newspaper to break the monotony. We left the TV on, never mind the government propaganda that was being broadcast. I had old copies of Reader’s Digest which I could now re-read. I lay in bed reading and reading…

2 When the curfew was lifted for 3 hours (or was it for 4 hours?), there was a frantic rush to the shops. As the phone now worked (and it would work only for the duration of the curfew break), Mother telephoned our usual sundry shop man in Kampong Simee. No, he couldn’t do the normal thing of delivering our order. He was completely swamped. We would have to go to him.

3 Mother gave him our order, and then Father and Mother (and I forget who else) went in the car from our house in Harmony Park in Silibin to the sundry shop in Kg Simee. Having been instructed to go to the back door, they did so. At a pre-arranged signal of several knocks, the owner opened the door and handed over our order. Including cigarettes. Mother paid him. NO EXTRA CHARGE. These were honest people, and still run their sundry shop but it is now in Ipoh Garden. (Incidentally, I was English tutor to several of their daughters and nieces in the 1990s.)

4 What did I do during the curfew break? I got on my motorbike and went to visit a girl I had a crush on. I was 19 and thought I really liked her. I visited briefly, and then left. Next stop was a newspaper and magazine stall. NO NEWSPAPER YET but there were magazines, so I bought a couple. You can only take so much of Reader’s Digest and then that is it. As I had to get back home before the curfew ended, I zoomed off.

5 While the phone still worked, we called up relatives. The aunt and cousins in Penang were alright. A cousin living on Air Hitam Road told of clashes nearby. Once, he looked out of the window facing the road and saw some soldiers patrolling. When one looked up at him, down he withdrew under the sill, holding his breath. Would they come banging away at his front door? Phew, nothing happened.

6 I remember with a mild surprise how well our family got on in that little house during our enforced “imprisonment”. Father, Mother, eldest brother, elder brother, younger brother and I, and the cook cum servant. I think my younger sister was still around; hadn’t left for Singapore yet. Total, 8 people. No quarrels. The greatest anxiety on my part was the fact that Father was home round the clock. I lived in fear of him then, so I avoided him as much as I could. I was the black sheep of the family, a recalcitrant.

7 We were all relieved to hear from my elder sister that she was fine and safe.

I had written the following:

She and some of her fellow trainees from the Specialist Teachers’ Training Institute had gone for a movie, and in the middle of it, they had to leave, in fear and panic. It was the night the riots began! Some of their course mates were Malay and protected them from harm. Under escort by these wonderful Malays, they walked back to college.

My sister said I was wrong. I stand corrected, and thank her.

This is what my sister, Ruth, wrote:

Ruth Wong (15 May 2012: about midday)

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My father’s thoughts on Chinese in the civil service

What was his observation of the changes in government service in the years after May 13? Government service will be increasingly offered to the Malay. We should forget about it. The government won’t hire us even if we are the best qualified. If they hired us because of some small quota they had to fill, that would be temporarily, and they would find some way of pushing us out. Discrimination would be their main weapon.

“Everything changed from May 13,” Father said. “When once discrimination was largely hidden, it is now explicit and direct.”

Today, long after my father died, his words remain true.

Perceived discrimination is the reason why the Chinese won’t go into the civil service. Even if the government says that it genuinely wants Chinese in the civil service, the Chinese will perceive that as a lie.

Discrimination is also why emigration is largely an ethnic issue. It is the emigration of the Chinese, particularly the skilled and highly educated, that is dominant especially today.

PART 3

This part has accounts from others that I am uncertain about. Are they authentic? Still, I shall set them down for posterity.

1 A few years after 513, I became friends with someone, a Chinese, in the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU). He said that he was both saddened and repelled by what he saw and heard during 513. He and other Chinese in the FRU were confined to barracks but, not until the 3rd day. By then, he had seen enough to know that something was very wrong with the nation. Chinese civilians against Malay civilians, Malay civilians against Chinese civilians: that was terrible. However, he couldn’t stomach the fact that in many cases in the first 3 days, army, police and FRU took part in the atrocities. During the period of confinement at barracks, he felt very much offended: they DIDN’T trust him and others in the FRU simply because they were Chinese!

To what extent was what he said true? I didn’t know then, and I had no means of verifying. I don’t know now either.

2 A couple, friends of mine for a long time, emigrated soon after 513. He was a school teacher and she, a senior nurse. Suddenly, they were gone. Years later, I met up with them in their new homeland, and asked, “Why did you emigrate?” He turned to her, and she looked at me. “So many dead bodies, almost all Chinese,were brought to the hospital,  so I was horrified by the thought that it was not safe to be in my own country just because I am Chinese. My terror was such that I lived in constant fear. When would it happen to me, to us?”

3 The horrific events of 513 left deep scars in people’s minds. 513 was in 1969. I had a motorbike, a Suzuki 70. I loved going around on it, not only in town but also outstation. Cameron Highlands? Gone there on the little bike. Penang? Painful for the bottom and back. Lumut? Short enough of a trip to be enjoyable.

From late 1968 to April 1969, on almost every Saturday, I would ride to Ayer Tawar and stay there till Monday morning. There was no power supply after 7 pm in those days, but it mattered little as my friend, Robert Tan, a teacher, was a good companion. Mainly, it was an opportunity to get away from the house, forget about my unhappy working life (at the bank) and relax.

513 had interrupted all that but as soon as I deemed it safe enough, I resumed my visits to Robert in Ayer Tawar. The road there passed through Malay kampongs. It crossed the old bridge with Bota Kiri on one side and bota Kanan on the other. I was cautious and never stopped for anything, and if a set of traffic lights was ahead, I timed it. NO STOPPING! A year after my last trip, I began to realize that it was misplaced phobia. The Malays there were not hostile but friendly! I found that out whenever I stopped for breakfast, aways at a Malay stall.

4 I was friends with an American woman, an old lady, who started a fruit orchard and an old folks’ home in Kuala Nerang, Kedah. In 1969, at Chinese New Year, I had spent 5 days there, helping out. All her Chinese labourers were away for New year, so I worked for her for my bed and meals. We got to know each other well. One night, she said to me, “Simon, I know you’re trying to make me happy but you don’t have to lose at Scrabble to do that…just play your usual game.” What an astute lady!

Anyway, a year or more after 513, we met by chance in Penang. We got to talking about how 513 had affected her and she said, No, everything was fine and there was no hostility to her or her work.

She mentioned an incident a week after the curfew had been lifted. She was driving home on the Kuala Nerang-Alor Star road when she was waved to a stop on the dark road. It was a Malay family: father, mother and young child. The child was very sick and they had no transport to the Alor Star General Hospital. They had come out to the road to thumb a life and EVERY SINGLE CAR HAD DRIVEN BY. My American friende was the only one who stopped! She turned her car around and fetched them to the hospital in Alor Star.

513 had turned normally helpful souls into suspicious people. Only she had remained untouched, always a helpful and caring person.

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Blogger: There will not be another May 13! It will not happen. This time, it is not UMNO versus DAP but BN versus PR. The difference is significant.

Believe me: May 13 will never return! It is not because we know better but because the political-racial mix is different.

Anwar Ibrahim has hd a lot to do with this. More and more Chinese have come to perceive Malaysia differently because of him. We know that he is not anti Chinese or Malay first but Malaysia first, and race later.

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FB user on PAPA GOMO (pro-UMNO blog) urges May 13 ‘slaughter’

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Free Malaysia Today

Explain your role in May 13, Kit Siang to Dr M

Picking on Thamrin Ghaffar’s allegation, the DAP stalwart tells the former premier to clear the air.

KUALA LUMPUR:  DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang today alluded that former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad is one of those behind the May 13 racial riots.

“Yesterday during two ceramah in Johor, former deputy prime minister Ghafar Baba’s son Thamrin revealed that the May 13 was due to a mini-coup by a group of men in Umno to topple Tunku [Abdul Rahman]. Former foreign minister Ghazali Shafie in the 1980s said that Mahathir was involved.

“This shows that I am not involved in the May 13 incident. I was not even in KL from May 11 to 13, 1969. I was in Sabah,” he said during a press conference at the DAP headquarters.

Lim also urged Mahathir to clear the air on Thamrin’s revelation.

On the same note, the DAP leader took a swipe at Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak for reminding the people of this lie – Lim’s involvement.

“They even have a candidate who keeps saying this lie in and out of Parliament – Zulkifli Noordin. Najib is saying 1Malaysia but he is dividing the people,” he said.

Explain your role in May 13, Kit Siang to Dr …

—

Malaysiakini

JOHOR Ex-Umno strongman Mohd Tamrin Abdul Ghafar has become an unexpected ally in Pakatan Rakyat’s bid to counter the claim that DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang was behind the May 13 riots in 1969.

The former Batu Berendam MP, who is also the second son of former deputy premier Abdul Ghafar Baba, has claimed that the incident was the outcome of a “mini coup” orchestrated by Umno leaders including Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“What (then home minister Muhammad) Ghazali (Shafie, left) told (PKR de facto leader) Anwar (Ibrahim) and me, when we were in Umno Youth, was that the incident was a mini coup planned by Umno men, and that Mahathir was involved,” Tamrin said during two Pakatan ceramahs in Gelang Patah last night.

“(First prime minister) Tunku (Abdul Rahman) wrote in his column ‘As I See It’ in The Star two years before he passed away, that the incident was a deliberate seizure of power by Umno leaders who then blamed it on DAP and the Chinese.”
……….

Tamrin’s disclosure supports the argument of academician Kua Kia Soong that the racial clash in 1969 was the result of a coup d’état by then deputy premier Abdul Razak Hussein against the Tunku, and that Mahathir supported it.

Tamrin recalled that the Tunku had expelled Mahathir from Umno after the latter wrote an open letter calling for the Tunku’s resignation after the riots.

“After the Tunku stepped down and Razak took over the premiership, he took Mahathir back into Umno and appointed him as education minister.

“This shows that Razak was grateful to Mahathir (for pressuring the Tunku to step down),” he explained, adding that Kit Siang (left) was not in Kuala Lumpur during the clashes.

He said the continued reference to the incident by Umno, in order to frighten Malay voters, indicates that the BN is desperate.

Ex-Umno man defends DAP against May 13 charge

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ARE THESE GENERAL EELECTIONS PUSHING US TOWARDS A PLACE WHERE WE MUSTN’T GO?

Malaysia Chronicle

Sunday, 28 April 2013 08:22

A call for national prayer as Umno-BN pushes nation towards a repeat of May 13, 1969

Written by  J. D. Lovrenciear

The foregone conclusion on the lips of all thinking and feeling rakyat is that GE-13 is going to be the most fiercely fought battle in the Parliamentary history of Malaysian politics since the times of its independence.

But what is even more disturbing – unprecedented if you may, is the fact that the post-GE-13 outcome or eventuality is also beginning to grip the citizens with deep seated concerns and fears.

Already, some high-ranking Concerned Citizens’ Group has penned the very fears in an Open Letter recently. And all of their expressed concerns are not farfetched going by overdose of threats, warnings, the bitter exchanges and gutter politicking we have to put up with so far.

Do we commoners want the country to plunge into darkness simply because of the outcome of the GE-13?

It is certainly not, for all right thinking and patriotic citizens. But the politicians do not seem to think along similar wavelengths, do they?

t is clear as daylight that BN is not prepared to accept the realities of the day that its popularity is sinking; that the kind of support that it enjoyed in the past decades is not anymore the same today coupled with the highest number of breakaway top contenders standing as independents.

Meanwhile, the opposition pact is cognizant of its growing support – seen by the migration of BN’s Who’s Who in recent weeks, as well as the ever growing numbers cheering them onwards at the ceremahs with the rakyat’s willingness to dip into their pockets and help cover some of the costs of election campaigns.

In the meantime, fire bombs and explosives as well as burning of vehicles and fist-fights are emerging, fueling ever more suspicions.
……….

http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=93152:a-call-for-national-prayer-as-

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SATURDAY, 13 APRIL 2013

ABOUT A YEAR AGO, I STARTED THIS POST.

TODAY, AS WE APPROACH GE 13, AND MOVE NEARER TO ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY OF MAY 13, I WANT TO HIGHLIGHT SEVERAL THINGS.

1 WHAT I WROTE A YEAR AGO.

2 DR MAHATHIR’S ATTEMPT TO SCARE US WITH ANOTHER RACIAL CONFRONTATION.

3 THE ASSURANCE BY PAS THAT THEY WILL PROTECT PEOPLE OF ALL RACES IF ANY RACIAL CONFRONTATION OCCURS.

AS I HAVE DONE PREVIOUSLY, I HAVE PUT THE MOST RECENT POSTS FIRST.

—

3 THE ASSURANCE BY PAS THAT THEY WILL PROTECT PEOPLE OF ALL RACES IF ANY RACIAL CONFRONTATION OCCURS.

Malaysian Insider

PAS will shield all from race clash, veep vows

By Debra Chong
Assistant News Editor
April 13, 2013
…

Datuk Mahfuz Omar is PAS Vice-President

He said PAS had not only worked to prevent racial strife, which he claimed to be stoked by Umno via Dr Mahathir’s blog entry, but was committed to ensure the safety of all races.

“But we give our commitment to protect and care for the safety of all Malaysians, regardless if Malay, Chinese or Indians if a racial confrontation happens as Dr Mahathir aspires in his blog,” the Johor PAS chief was quoted saying.

Mahfuz reportedly said his promise was not mere rhetoric as the PAS government in Kelantan had done so on May 13, 1969 when racial riots swept the rest of the country.

“As soon as an attempt was made to spread unrest from Kuala Lumpur to Kelantan, the Kelantan mentri besar at that time, Tan Sri Asri Muda, had immediately gathered the heads of society in the mentri besar’s official residence in JKR 10.

“He gave a warning, if there were incidents where the Chinese were ill-treated anywhere in Kelantan, he would hold the headman there accountable,” he was quoted saying.

According to Mahfuz, Asri had also guaranteed the Chinese representative, Chua Say Paw, who was present in that gathering that nothing untoward would befall the community in the state.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/pas-will-shield-all-from-race-clash-veep-vows/

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2 DR MAHATHIR’S ATTEMPT TO SCARE US WITH ANOTHER RACIAL CONFRONTATION.

This man has not only continued to rant and rave, he keeps harping on Lim Kit Siang and the danger Lim Kit Siang poses to racial harmony.

I think that it is Dr Mahathir himself who poses THE GREATEST DANGER TO RACIAL HARMONY IN MALAYSIA.

(a) Refer to my Post, Ibrahim Ali: I’ll shock you with Pakatan secrets: Mahathir backs Ibrahim as Pasir Mas candidate.

Ibrahim Ali and Perkasa are Mahathir’s Super Racists.

(b) Datuk Mahfuz Omar, PAS vice-president:
“It’s no secret that Dr Mahathir is very afraid to face the general election this time, in fact he has been reported saying he was more worried about his grandchildren’s safety compared to his own if Pakatan Rakyat wins,” Mahfuz was quoted saying today by PAS news portal, Harakah.

“His writing clearly is a desperate attempt by Dr Mahathir to spread his fear to the rakyat and an invitation to share in his personal fears,” he added, referring to the veteran Umno politician’s latest blog posting two days ago, titled “Gelang Patah”.

In it, Dr Mahathir warned Malaysians that a “racial confrontation” was imminent if the DAP’s Lim Kit Siang were to win the Gelang Patah federal seat in Johor, the birthplace of Umno at the 13th general election.

(PAS will shield all from race clash, veep vow.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/pas-will-shield-all-from-race-clash-veep-vows/)

(c) DAP is taking a risk by counting on Chinese votes in Johor, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said, dousing the opposition party’s southern campaign in doubt by insisting that the state is still a Barisan Nasional (BN) fortress.

The former prime minister shrugged off DAP’s strategy of fielding heavyweights like veteran politician Lim Kit Siang to take on Gelang Patah, an urban MCA-held stronghold in Johor, saying he wondered why the party believes it could be victorious.
…
He suggested that DAP was setting its sights on Johor because the party believes it has the support of the Chinese community there.

He commented on the opposition’s strategy of aiming at Chinese votes in Johor seats, accusing DAP for allegedly being racist, claiming it is a “Chinese party” despite the party saying it has a multiracial membership and leadership.

(Dr M: DAP risking it with Chinese vote in BN’s Johor fort.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/dr-m-dap-risking-it-with-chinese-vote-in-bns-johor-fort/)

(d) Malaysian Insider
By Debra Chong
Assistant News Editor
April 12, 2013

Dr M is ‘single, greatest threat’ to Malaysia’s nation-building, says Kit Siang.

KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is Malaysia’s single, greatest “enemy” bent on destroying the Bangsa Malaysia and Vision 2020 nation-building pillars he created during his 22 years in office, his DAP arch-foe Lim Kit Siang said today.

The DAP advisor has been on the receiving end of the former prime minister’s acid tongue ever since announcing his candidacy for the Gelang Patah seat, and returned fire in a tit-for-tat attack that has been raging for weeks in the run-up to Election 2013.

“Dr M (picture) in his post-PM decade has emerged as the greatest enemy of his own Bangsa Malaysia concept in Vision 2020 and the single greatest threat to Malaysian nation building,” Lim said in a statement, referring to his political nemesis by his popular handle.

He pointed to Dr Mahathir’s public praise last weekend of Malay right-winger, Datuk Ibrahim Ali, and endorsement of the Perkasa president as an “ideal” electoral candidate as one of two examples of the ex-PM’s “baleful and baneful influence” to Malaysian nation building.

The second example he ticked was Dr Mahathir’s “racist” entry on the latter’s chedet.cc blog yesterday, in which the 87-year-old had warned of a “race confrontation” should Lim win Gelang Patah in the May 5 polls.

“Mahathir is just continuing the demonisation campaign by Umno down through the decades painting the DAP as anti-Malay and anti-Islam when these are totally untrue, false and downright lies,” he said.

Dr M is ‘single, greatest threat’ to Malaysia’s nation-building, says Kit Siang

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1 WHAT I WROTE A YEAR AGO.

THIS WAS WHERE IT BEGAN…

I shall summarize my memories in no particular order.

PART 1

1 The whole family was in Ipoh except for my eldest sister, who was at the Specialist Teachers’ Training Institute in KL.

We heard nothing of the riots at all from TV or radio. On the morning of May 14, our telephone did not work. TV1 and TV2 kept posting the word  PENGUMUMAN (ANNOUNCEMENT)  all day and night, and a CURFEW was announced some time in the morning. It was announced early enough for people to tell their neighbours NOT to go to work or market, or out at all.

2 Somehow, Father heard that there were racial riots in KL. By what means? I don’t know to this day. We began to worry about my eldest sister. (We were relieved to learn on the 3rd day that she was safe, but more of that later.)

3 My eldest brother, a graduate in medicine from UM, had got a posting as a houseman at the University Hospital, KL, but was home on holiday. He was getting impatient. He had a strong desire to get to the University Hospital to help out.

4 Somehow, news got through. Chinese and Malay were fighting and troops/police had shot many rioters. A young doctor, a Chinese, rumour had it, was shot dead at a road block manned by police and army. He had answered the government’s call for all doctors to go to the nearest hospital but had had an unfortunate end. That decided itfor Father. Eldest brother was NOT going anywhere. Home was safer.

5 TV and radio stations kept playing nationalist music all day and night, interspersed with PENGUMUMAN.

6 We saw no one on the road although, on the second morning, a Malay policeman had ridden past at top speed on his bicycle, frantic with fear. Did he think we would attack him? Nobody was on the street at all. Once a while, someone went out to the compound of the house, and my father also went outside, and he and the neighbours on the left and right would engage in whispered conversations over the fence.

7 We didn’t starve except that a diet of rice and ikan bilis, rice and pork luncheon meat, rice and sardine, rice and dace, didn’t do much for the appetite.

8 Father had finished all his cigarettes on the second day and being an addict, had to have a cigarette. “Go to the sundry shop down the road and buy me a pack of cigarettes,” he instructed me. Huh? Was he serious? Yes, a quick glance at his stern face was enough to send me out the door and down the road. The danger of being shot by a passing policeman was quickly overcome by the thought of his fury. You may have heard the saying, A hungry man is an angry man. I knew from young that A cigarette-craving father is a furious father!

9 The grocer was not surprised when I arrived. One look at me from his peephole and out he rushed to his gate. One hand held out a packet of cigarettes (he knew my father’s brand) and the other took my money and handed me the change. The transaction was brief and quick.

I ran back home and gave the drug-sticks to Father. Mission accomplished.

COME BACK FOR MORE TONIGHT!
—

Tonight has come far quicker than I had expected. When you are busy, time really flies….

PART 2

1 The curfew meant that I didn’t go to work. It was very boring being at home all the time, with brief excursions outside the house, into the compound. The back compound was safer, being out of sight of the road. We had no back lane. A house occupied by an extended family of Sikhs was right behind. There was no newspaper to break the monotony. We left the TV on, never mind the government propaganda that was being broadcast. I had old copies of Reader’s Digest which I could now re-read. I lay in bed reading and reading…

2 When the curfew was lifted for 3 hours (or was it for 4 hours?), there was a frantic rush to the shops. As the phone now worked (and it would work only for the duration of the curfew break), Mother telephoned our usual sundry shop man in Kampong Simee. No, he couldn’t do the normal thing of delivering our order. He was completely swamped. We would have to go to him.

3 Mother gave him our order, and then Father and Mother (and I forget who else) went in the car from our house in Harmony Park in Silibin to the sundry shop in Kg Simee. Having been instructed to go to the back door, they did so. At a pre-arranged signal of several knocks, the owner opened the door and handed over our order. Including cigarettes. Mother paid him. NO EXTRA CHARGE. These were honest people, and still run their sundry shop but it is now in Ipoh Garden. (Incidentally, I was English tutor to several of their daughters and nieces in the 1990s.)

4 What did I do during the curfew break? I got on my motorbike and went to visit a girl I had a crush on. I was 19 and thought I really liked her. I visited briefly, and then left. Next stop was a newspaper and magazine stall. NO NEWSPAPER YET but there were magazines, so I bought a couple. You can only take so much of Reader’s Digest and then that is it. As I had to get back home before the curfew ended, I zoomed off.

5 While the phone still worked, we called up relatives. The aunt and cousins in Penang were alright. A cousin living on Air Hitam Road told of clashes nearby. Once, he looked out of the window facing the road and saw some soldiers patrolling. When one looked up at him, down he withdrew under the sill, holding his breath. Would they come banging away at his front door? Phew, nothing happened.

6 I remember with a mild surprise how well our family got on in that little house during our enforced “imprisonment”. Father, Mother, eldest brother, elder brother, younger brother and I, and the cook cum servant. I think my younger sister was still around; hadn’t left for Singapore yet. Total, 8 people. No quarrels. The greatest anxiety on my part was the fact that Father was home round the clock. I lived in fear of him then, so I avoided him as much as I could. I was the black sheep of the family, a recalcitrant.

7 We were all relieved to hear from my elder sister that she was fine and safe.

I had written the following:

She and some of her fellow trainees from the Specialist Teachers’ Training Institute had gone for a movie, and in the middle of it, they had to leave, in fear and panic. It was the night the riots began! Some of their course mates were Malay and protected them from harm. Under escort by these wonderful Malays, they walked back to college.

This is what my sister, Ruth, has just written:

Ruth Wong (15 May 2012: about midday)

__________________________________________________

My father’s thoughts on Chinese in the civil service

What was his observation of the changes in government service in the years after May 13? Government service will be increasingly offered to the Malay. We should forget about it. The government won’t hire us even if we are the best qualified. If they hired us because of some small quota they had to fill, that would be temporarily, and they would find some way of pushing us out. Discrimination would be their main weapon.

“Everything changed from May 13,” Father said. “When once discrimination was largely hidden, it is now explicit and direct.”

Today, long after my father died, his words remain true.

Discrimination is the reason why the Chinese won’t go into the civil service. Even if the government says that it genuinely wants Chinese in the civil service, the Chinese will perceive that as a lie.

Discrimination is also why emigration is largely an ethnic issue. It is the emigration of the Chinese, particularly the skilled and highly educated.

———-

Malaysiakini

Delays, bureaucracy deters Chinese from civil service

———————————————————————————————————–

LET THE BARISAN NASIONAL GOVERNMENT SAY IN ITS ELECTION MANIFESTO: NO,THERE MUST BE, AND THERE WILL BE, NO REPEAT OF MAY 13!

LET THE OPPOSITION SAY THE SAME IN ITS ELECTION MANIFESTO:
NO,THERE MUST BE, AND THERE WILL BE, NO REPEAT OF MAY 13!

PART 9
The SPECTER of another May 13 has just raised its ugly head. AGAIN.

Why is it that politicians and others (especially ultra-racists) threaten the whole nation with another May 13? Why do government MINISTERS do that?

This time, using the excuse of a new movie of May 13, politicians, who should be more responsible, are proud to remind us that it could happen again.

See

NEW MAY 13 MOVIE: HOW BIASED IS IT?

THEY ARE SUGGESTING THAT IF WE ELECT A NEW GOVERNMENT, IT WILL HAPPEN.

THEY WARN, “DON’T LET IT HAPPEN BY ELECTING A DIFFERENT GOVERNMENT!”

MY PLEA: COULD ALL POLITICAL PARTIES PUBLICLY STATE THAT THEY WILL NOT ALLOW ANOTHER MAY 13?

COULD THE BARISAN NASIONAL GOVERNMENT, INHERITORS OF THAT ALLIANCE GOVERNMENT IN 1969, GIVE US, THE ORDINARY PEOPLE, SUCH AN UNDERTAKING?

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PART 8
Occasionally, a question is asked by some senior government official, maybe even a minister: Why do so few Chinese apply for jobs in the civil servant?

Blogger’s comments
My father had only a couple of years of traditional Chinese school, and then, he had to work like the rest of his brothers.  He taught himself to read by looking at the Chinese newspaper every day and by asking friends and even strangers what a Chinese character meant. He also learnt English, not the written form but the spoken. He spoke mat salleh English! He understood the English man’s accent and spoke it well enough to run a tailoring business that had as its bed rock English and Australian clients.

When the English left, Father switched over easily to Chinese clients, and later, Malay clients. Many of the government servants were increasingly Malay, and Father understood and spoke Malay. By the way, he was the tailor of the previous Sultan of Perak.

What was his observation of the changes in government service in the years after May 13? Government service will be increasingly offered to the Malay. We should forget about it. The government won’t hire us even if we are the best qualified. If they hired us because of some small quota they had to fill, that would be temporarily, and they would find some way of pushing us out. Discrimination would be their main weapon.

“Everything changed from May 13,” Father said. “When once discrimination was largely hidden, it is now explicit and direct.”

In the early 1970s, my eldest brother returned from the USA with a Doctor of Medicine degree, and as a specialist, he expected only what was due a specialist. He was mistreated. He learnt first hand what Father had predicted. After his contract ended, he left for Australia where he eventually became Professor of Child Health. He is an Australian citizen.

Today, long after my father died, his words remain true.

Discrimination is the reason why the Chinese won’t go into the civil service. Even if the government says that it genuinely wants Chinese in the civil service, the Chinese will perceive that as a lie.

Discrimination is also why emigration is largely an ethnic issue. It is the emigration of the Chinese, particularly the skilled and highly educated.

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Rampant racial discrimination

The most important reason why disparity in civil service participation amongst the races exists is the discrimination against non-Malays in recruitment and promotion exercises. This explains why the numbers applying have dropped dramatically. If there is going to be an uneven playing field and if others less qualified or less capable than you are promoted ahead of you – and this is perceived to be a standard practice – why stay in the job, even if it may be a well paying or secure one.

english.cpiasia.net/…the-civil–service–racial–imbalance… – Cached

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Someone who used to be very high up in the civil service has this to say:

Actually I believe that there are strong perceptions among many Non Bumis that the Public Service is monopolised by the Bumis and that it is meant mainly for them . Non Bumis hear about the low recruitment rates for Non Bumis and the poorer prospects of promotions for Non Bumis . They believe that even when they are promoted, the promotion posts are not the more attractive nor professionally satisfying jobs .

Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, Chairman Asli Center of Public Policy Studies.

You can read what he wrote in the following article

Why SO FEW NON-MALAYS in the public service – Ramon Navaratnam

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PART 7
Soon after 1969, university education in Malaysia became very much a one-medium of instruction education. Malay (or BM) became not only prominent and dominant as the language in tertiary education, but also the ONLY LANGUAGE ALLOWED.

1 The following publication is seminal.

Forum on Public Policy

Privatization Of Higher Education In Malaysia

G.Sivalingam, Professor, School Of Business, Monash University Malaysia

Abstract

The study will trace the external factors influencing the liberalization, deregulation and privatization of higher education in Malaysia from 1970 to the present and to analyze the effects of liberalization, deregulation and privatization on the modes of privatization and the internal restructuring of institutions of higher learning to increase efficiency, reduce costs and improve quality

 On pages 3-4

At the time of independence in 1957, the medium of instruction in all government assisted schools was the English Language. However, because of strong nationalistic considerations a clause was introduced in the 1957 Constitution, which stipulated that Bahasa Malaysia or the National Language should be the medium of instruction in all institutions of learning including the universities.

There was considerable frustration among the Malay elite and politicians that slow progress was made in implementing Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction and this became an issue before and after the May 13, 1969 racial riots, which was perhaps the most significant event in post Independence Malaysia that changed the course of not only the education system but also the course of Malaysian society, economics and politics.

PRIVATIZATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN MALAYSIA

www.forumonpublicpolicy.com/archive07/sivalingam.pdf

2 Malaysian Chinese perceived bias, and later, discrimination in the allocation of places at Malaysian universities. In my case, it was obvious that I did not qualify for admission to any Malaysian university simply because I did not have a credit in Malay. It mattered not that my GCE Advanced Level result was A, B, B and E, with 2 for General Paper.

3 Singapore, however, welcomed me with open arms. I went to the University of Singapore. Those were the early days of low university fees and subsidized hostel places. I stayed at Raffles Hall, where about 170 of the 262 Rafflesians were Malaysians. Although I left after graduation, most of those who were with me are still in Singapore.

4 My father, like many of his contemporaries, gave us an English-school education. There was an obvious bias against the Malay language, which made a negative impact on me, working against any inclination on my part to learn the language. Thus, I showed neither interest nor aptitude for the language. Still, I am forever grateful to my father for allowing me to learn English. I could fly and I did!

5 I made sure that my own children did not inherit that bias. A Malay-medium primary school was where my wife and I started them off at. English would never be a problem as it is our first language. When my eldest son started school, I made an effort to learn enough basic Malay to coach him through the first few months of school. And then he was off on his own. All three sons are fluent in Malay. One went to USM, another to NUS, and the third to UTAR. All finished the SPM and two finished the STPM. The one who went to NUS did so on an Asean scholarship and did the A Levels. He will graduate from NUS again, with a Master’s degree. The graduation ceremony is in July 2012. (Update: my wife and I attended this. It was grand but simple, with just the right tough of solemnity at the beginning, and light-heartedness at the end.)

All three sons are bilingual, proficient in Malay and English.

6 FOR THE PAST DECADE, THE GOVERNMENT HAS EMPHASIZED THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AT TERTIARY LEVEL. It has, however, returned to the use of Malay in the teaching of Science and maths. A BIG BACKWARD STEP.

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PART 6
THE CHINESE CONTINUE TO LEAVE. MALAYS, INCREASINGLY, ARE JOINING THEM.

Like many other Chinese fathers, my father wished that his childre, at least, could emigrate and be safe. SAFETY AND SECURITY. That was his main concern.

Four of his six children are citizens or permanent residents of other countries. I am still here and will stay. I was born here, and I will die here.

HOWEVER, OTHERS ARE LEAVING. Read one such story of the separation of the generations, an elderly couple on the one side, and their child and grandchildren on the other side of the ocean.

Malaysiakini

COMMENT On Monday, my daughter posted on her Facebook: ‘Feeling a little sad for my girl ..she just told me she doesn’t like celebrating Grandparents’ Day at school and wishes she had grandparents to watch her perform in the band on Thursday. I guess this is one of the few negatives about migration.’

My wife Kim and I were feeling more than a little sad as it was to be our eight-year-old grand-daughter’s big day to show off to her grandparents and we couldn’t be there.

So I posted on my daughter’s wall: ‘Cry, my beloved country. All because of a corrupt and incompetent government.’

As a family, we are now an ocean and a few seas apart from one another. Our three grandchildren have not been back for five years now. As unwaged senior citizens, we can afford to visit them only once a year.

www.malaysiakini.com/news/199410 – Cached

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PART 5
WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAY 13, 1969?

1 What came over the grapevine was this: the DAP were celebrating, holding a victory procession, when they were attacked by angry people of the other race who were also terrified of losing political power.

2 The government propaganda blamed the DAP. The DAP leaders and supporters jeered at their opponents and people of the other race as they marched throughout the streets of KL.

3 The government of the time absolved the attackers of all blame. They were badly provoked. DAP shouldn’t have done that. (Today, in July 2012, a new movie on May 13 blames Lim Kit Siang for organizing the riots. He is said to have directed the riots personally and to have urinated on a flagpole from which the Malaysian Flag flew. YET he wasn’t even in KL at the time, or Selangor.)

4 What is the truth? Back then, denied news of the incident, we still didn’t believe government propaganda. When Parliament was dissolved and Tun Abdul Razak took control, it confirmed our suspicion that a riot was started to allow the election results to be cancelled. It was a coup d’etat by Razak and UMNO.

TODAY, NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED. UMNO STILL BLAMES DAP. THE MCA? Can’t trust them as they’re so scared of the BIGGER WOLF that is UMNO;  MCA is just a mongrel.

READ WHAT LIM KIT KIANG HAS TO SAY TODAY

Through the Internet, UMNO/BN cybertroopers spread the vicious lie that I was responsible for the May 13 riots in 1969 and that I had roamed the streets of Kuala Lumpur after the 1969 general elections results, hurling anti-Malay abuses resulting in the May 13 riots.

In actual fact, I was never in Kuala Lumpur on May 10, 11, 12 and 13, 1969, something which could be easily verified in the media at the time and by the police records.

I was standing for parliamentary election in Bandar Melaka in 1969 and on the morning of May 13, 1969, I had taken the morning flight to Kota Kinabalu to help in the election campaign of Sabah Independent candidates as polling for Sabah/Sarawak in the 1969 general elections was scheduled a week after that in Peninsular Malaysia.

But what is even more monstrous is the accusation by these UMNO/BN cybertroopers that Lim Guan Eng was also responsible for the May 13 riots of 1969 on the ground that Guan Eng was the DAP Youth leader at the time and was in the forefront of anti-Malay attacks

READ LIM KIT SIANG’S REPLY

The triple lie: Don’t even have DAP Youth then

Firstly, the DAP was never anti-Malay but was fully committed since our formation in 1966 to be a Malaysian party representing the legitimate rights and interests of all races in the country.

In fact, in 1969 DAP fielded several Malay candidates for parliamentary and state assembly elections and two Malay State Assemblymen were elected on DAP tickets, one in Perak and the other in Negri Sembilan.

Secondly, there was no DAP Youth in l969 as DAPSY (DAP Socialist Youth) was only formed in 1973, and the late P.Patto was the first DAPSY leader.

Thirdly, Guan Eng was only eight years old in May 1969 – and it illustrates how dirty and unprincipled politics has degenerated in Malaysia in the run up to the next general elections that such a despicable and contemptible accusation could be leveled against an eight-year-old child!

SUPER GUAN ENG: Only 8 yrs old in 1969 and yet Umno says he started May 13 – 23/05 5:40 pm

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The Bethel Hill Old Folks’ Home in Kuala Nerang, Kedah

IN PART 4, the following was posted:

4 I was friends with an American woman, an old lady, who started a fruit orchard and an old folks’ home in Kuala Nerang, Kedah. In 1969, at Chinese New Year, I had spent 5 days there, helping out. All her Chinese labourers were away for New year, so I worked for her for my bed and meals. We got to know each other well. One night, she said to me, “Simon, I know you’re trying to make me happy but you don’t have to lose at Scrabble to do that…just play your usual game.” What an astute lady!

Anyway, a year or more after 513, we met by chance in Penang. We got to talking about how 513 had affected her and she said, No, everything was fine and there was no hostility to her or her work.

She mentioned an incident a week after the curfew had been lifted. She was driving home on the Kuala Nerang-Alor Star road when she was waved to a stop on the dark road. It was a Malay family, father, mother and young child. The child was very sick and they had no transport to the Alor Star General Hospital. They had come out to the road to thumb a life and EVERY SINGLE CAR HAD DRIVEN BY. She was the only one who stopped! She turned her car around and fetched them to the hospital.

513 had turned normally helpful souls into suspicious people.

That old folks’ home is still in existence today. It is the Bethel Hill Old Folks Home.

See the link below.

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See PART 4
The Malaysian diaspora (emigration) is one of the consequences of May 13.

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Migration is very much an ethnic phenomenon in Malaysia, mostly Chinese but also Indian,” Schellekens told Bloomberg in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday ahead of the report’s release today.

blog.drdzul.com/2011/04/28/malaysias-brain-drain… – Cached

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My Post on 513 is personal. For a  far larger view, click on the link below

www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2012/05/13/… – Cached

Today is the anniversary of our darkest days. Not a day for celebrations but a day to reflect when many lives were lost and our nation was confronted with its worst nightmare of having its own people turning against each other for no other reasons but race.

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WHAT I REMEMBER

When the Riots broke out on May 13, 1969, I was 19 and working at the Mercantile Bank (since then, absorbed by the Hong Kong Bank).

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As is my practice, the most recent addition to my Post is put at the front to make it more convenient for readers who have been following my post…

PART 4
The Malaysian diaspora (emigration) is one of the consequences of May 13.

1 People who could, mostly the professional and educated, began to emigrate. It was not apparent in the first year but suddenly, you missed people. They were gone.

2 The mentality of the Chinese began to change. It was time to seek a new sanctuary, a new refuge. Malaysia was unsafe, even hazardous, for the Chinese. Parents worked harder at making sure their children could go overseas.

The instruction was straightforward: Go and find a new home abroad, and bring the rest of us over. We are not safe here.

3 That was the message drummed into the  minds of the next generation. All those who could, carried out these instructions to the letter. It helped to discover that life was much better overseas in many ways. You climbed society’s rungs on merit. There was no racial ceiling. You didn’t worry about racial riots.

Someone I know, who had an MD, a Doctor of Medicine degree, and was a specialist, was treated just like a new doctor. He felt that it was because he was Chinese. He was on call 24/7. He left after a year or so. Australia literally grabbed him. He never came back. Indeed, he began taking his siblings over.

Singapore was an easy destination. Go there and study, and stay on. The Singapore government was co-operative: come over and study! Fees were low and the Malaysian dollar was stronger than the Singapore dollar then.

The Malaysia disapora, a trickle at first, became a torrent.

—

www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/after-brain… – Cached

www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/social… – Cached

KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 — Social injustice is one of the top three reasons behind the country’s brain drain, the World Bank said today, adding that Malaysians are only willing to return if the government shifts from race-based to needs-based affirmative action policies.

—

PART 3

This part has accounts from others that I am uncertain about. Are they authentic? Still, I shall set them down for posterity.

1 A few years after 513, I became friends with someone, a Chinese, in the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU). He said that he was both saddened and repelled by what he saw and heard during 513. He and other Chinese in the FRU were confined to barracks but, not until the 3rd day. By then, he had seen enough to know that something was very wrong with the nation. Chinese civilians against Malay civilians, Malay civilians against Chinese civilians: that was terrible. However, he couldn’t stomach the fact that in many cases in the first 3 days, army, police and FRU took part in the atrocities. During the period of confinement at barracks, he felt very much offended: they DIDN’T trust him and others in the FRU simply because they were Chinese!

To what extent was what he said true? I didn’t know then, and I had no means of verifying. I don’t know now either.

2 A couple, friends of mine for a long time, emigrated soon after 513. He was a school teacher and she, a senior nurse. Suddenly, they were gone. Years later, I met up with them in their new homeland, and asked, “Why did you emigrate?” He turned to her, and she looked at me. “So many dead bodies, almost all Chinese,were brought to the hospital,  so I was horrified by the thought that it was not safe to be in my own country just because I am Chinese. My terror was such that I lived in constant fear. When would it happen to me, to us?”

3 The horrific events of 513 left deep scars in people’s minds. 513 was in 1969. I had a motorbike, a Suzuki 70. I loved going around on it, not only in town but also out. Cameron Highlands? Gone there on the little bike. Penang? Painful for the bottom and back. Lumut? Short enough of a trip to be enjoyable.

From late 1968 to April 1969, almost every Saturday, I would ride to Ayer Tawar and stay there till Monday morning. There was no power supply after 7 pm in those days, but it mattered little as my friend, Robert Tan, a teacher, was a good companion. Mainly, it was an opportunity to get away from the house, forget about my unhappy working life (at the bank) and relax.

513 had interrupted all that but as soon as I deemed it safe enough, I resumed my visits to Robert in Ayer Tawar. The road there passed through Malay kampongs. It crossed the old bridge with Bota Kiri on one side and bota Kanan on the other. I was cautious and never stopped for anything, and if a set of traffic lights was ahead, I timed it. NO STOPPING! A year after my last trip, I began to realize that it was misplaced phobia. The Malays there were not like those in KL!

4 I was friends with an American woman, an old lady, who started a fruit orchard and an old folks’ home in Kuala Nerang, Kedah. In 1969, at Chinese New Year, I had spent 5 days there, helping out. All her Chinese labourers were away for New year, so I worked for her for my bed and meals. We got to know each other well. One night, she said to me, “Simon, I know you’re trying to make me happy but you don’t have to lose at Scrabble to do that…just play your usual game.” What an astute lady!

Anyway, a year or more after 513, we met by chance in Penang. We got to talking about how 513 had affected her and she said, No, everything was fine and there was no hostility to her or her work.

She mentioned an incident a week after the curfew had been lifted. She was driving home on the Kuala Nerang-Alor Star road when she was waved to a stop on the dark road. It was a Malay family, father, mother and young child. The child was very sick and they had no transport to the Alor Star General Hospital. They had come out to the road to thumb a life and EVERY SINGLE CAR HAD DRIVEN BY. She was the only one who stopped! She turned her car around and fetched them to the hospital.

513 had turned normally helpful souls into suspicious people.

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THIS WAS WHERE IT BEGAN…

I shall summarize my memories in no particular order.

PART 1

1 The whole family was in Ipoh except for my eldest sister, who was at the Specialist Teachers’ Training Institute in KL.

We heard nothing of the riots at all from TV or radio. On the morning of May 14, our telephone did not work. TV1 and TV2 kept posting the word  PENGUMUMAN (ANNOUNCEMENT)  all day and night, and a CURFEW was announced some time in the morning. It was announced early enough for people to tell their neighbours NOT to go to work or market, or out at all.

2 Somehow, Father heard that there were racial riots in KL. By what means? I don’t know to this day. We began to worry about my eldest sister. (We were relieved to learn on the 3rd day that she was safe, but more of that later.)

3 My eldest brother, a graduate in medicine from UM, had got a posting as a houseman at the University Hospital, KL, but was home on holiday. He was getting impatient. He had a strong desire to get to the University Hospital to help out.

4 Somehow, news got through. Chinese and Malay were fighting and troops/police had shot many rioters. A young doctor, a Chinese, rumour had it, was shot dead at a road block manned by police and army. He had answered the government’s call for all doctors to go to the nearest hospital but had had an unfortunate end. That decided itfor Father. Eldest brother was NOT going anywhere. Home was safer.

5 TV and radio stations kept playing nationalist music all day and night, interspersed with PENGUMUMAN.

6 We saw no one on the road although, on the second morning, a Malay policeman had ridden past at top speed on his bicycle, frantic with fear. Did he think we would attack him? Nobody was on the street at all. Once a while, someone went out to the compound of the house, and my father also went outside, and he and the neighbours on the left and right would engage in whispered conversations over the fence.

7 We didn’t starve except that a diet of rice and ikan bilis, rice and pork luncheon meat, rice and sardine, rice and dace, didn’t do much for the appetite.

8 Father had finished all his cigarettes on the second day and being an addict, had to have a cigarette. “Go to the sundry shop down the road and buy me a pack of cigarettes,” he instructed me. Huh? Was he serious? Yes, a quick glance at his stern face was enough to send me out the door and down the road. The danger of being shot by a passing policeman was quickly overcome by the thought of his fury. You may have heard the saying, A hungry man is an angry man. I knew from young that A cigarette-craving father is a furious father!

9 The grocer was not surprised when I arrived. One look at me from his peephole and out he rushed to his gate. One hand held out a packet of cigarettes (he knew my father’s brand) and the other took my money and handed me the change. The transaction was brief and quick.

I ran back home and gave the drug-sticks to Father. Mission accomplished.

COME BACK FOR MORE TONIGHT!
—

Tonight has come far quicker than I had expected. When you are busy, time really flies….

PART 2

1 The curfew meant that I didn’t go to work. It was very boring being at home all the time, with brief excursions outside the house, into the compound. The back compound was safer, being out of sight of the road. We had no back lane. A house occupied by an extended family of Sikhs was right behind. There was no newspaper to break the monotony. We left the TV on, never mind the government propaganda that was being broadcast. I had old copies of Reader’s Digest which I could now re-read. I lay in bed reading and reading…

2 When the curfew was lifted for 3 hours (or was it for 4 hours?), there was a frantic rush to the shops. As the phone now worked (and it would work only for the duration of the curfew break), Mother telephoned our usual sundry shop man in Kampong Simee. No, he couldn’t do the normal thing of delivering our order. He was completely swamped. We would have to go to him.

3 Mother gave him our order, and then Father and Mother (and I forget who else) went in the car from our house in Harmony Park in Silibin to the sundry shop in Kg Simee. Having been instructed to go to the back door, they did so. At a pre-arranged signal of several knocks, the owner opened the door and handed over our order. Including cigarettes. Mother paid him. NO EXTRA CHARGE. These were honest people, and still run their sundry shop but it is now in Ipoh Garden. (Incidentally, I was English tutor to several of their daughters and nieces in the 1990s.)

4 What did I do during the curfew break? I got on my motorbike and went to visit a girl I had a crush on. I was 19 and thought I really liked her. I visited briefly, and then left. Next stop was a newspaper and magazine stall. NO NEWSPAPER YET but there were magazines, so I bought a couple. You can only take so much of Reader’s Digest and then that is it. As I had to get back home before the curfew ended, I zoomed off.

5 While the phone still worked, we called up relatives. The aunt and cousins in Penang were alright. A cousin living on Air Hitam Road told of clashes nearby. Once, he looked out of the window facing the road and saw some soldiers patrolling. When one looked up at him, down he withdrew under the sill, holding his breath. Would they come banging away at his front door? Phew, nothing happened.

6 I remember with a mild surprise how well our family got on in that little house during our enforced “imprisonment”. Father, Mother, eldest brother, elder brother, younger brother and I, and the cook cum servant. I think my younger sister was still around; hadn’t left for Singapore yet. Total, 8 people. No quarrels. The greatest anxiety on my part was the fact that Father was home round the clock. I lived in fear of him then, so I avoided him as much as I could. I was the black sheep of the family, a recalcitrant.

7 We were all relieved to hear from my elder sister that she was fine and safe.

I had written the following:

She and some of her fellow trainees from the Specialist Teachers’ Training Institute had gone for a movie, and in the middle of it, they had to leave, in fear and panic. It was the night the riots began! Some of their course mates were Malay and protected them from harm. Under escort by these wonderful Malays, they walked back to college.

This is what my sister, Ruth, has just written:

Ruth Wong (15 May 2012: about midday)

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PART 3 will be some time tomorrow, I hope. Monday brings with it a full day..

Try my best, as some of my students say!

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