May 13.

Forty (40) years ago or four decade to this date the nation was shocked when the Malays and the Chinese was going after one another. Who started it is not important because the damage had been done and the road to recovery was a very long process. Up to this date the wound might healed but some scar to some, still remain.

My epilogue is only to relate and recollect where I was on that unfortunate day and the days after.

13th May 1969, I was working in Port Dickson with ESSO and was still a bachelor. I was only 23. On the evening of 13th.May, the PD beaches at Telok Kemang was crowded with visitors as the next day was the last Wednesday of the Muslim month of Safar. Those days Malaysian Muslims believed that having a dip in the sea or a good shower somewhere would cleanse all the bad luck. Now the tradition had been declared by Majlis Fatwa as forbidden (not practice by Muslims faith). Visitors or tourists by chartered busses thronged the beach and there was a stage show at the school field of Telok Kemang Malay Primary School. I went to watch the stage show with my housemate, late Hassan Amin in his Volkswagen. While we were watching the comedy act of S.M Salim, Jamal Kerdil and Ibrahim Din, S.M Salim told the crowd that he had to put a night in PD that night as it was impossible to go back to KL. He hinted that KL is having a small problem. We thought it was part of his comedy. Soon after, a Military Police car with a loud hailer came by and instructed all military personnel to report to the Garrison. Now we sensed something was not right and we rushed home. I switched on the television and Tengku Abdul Rahman was live on air detailing about the problem in KL and pleaded everyone to remain calm and remain indoor. TV was aired round the clock and we followed the development closely.

I have two brothers in KL, one attached to Pudu Jail and one at RTM. I was not bothered about the RTM guy because I saw him on air broadcasting the news bulletin and I managed to get the one of the Pudu Jail on the phone and apparently he and his wife took refuge at the most safest place in the jail.

Apparently I had taken one week annual leave and I was supposed to go back to Ipoh on 15th.May. The problem was I could not pass through KL because it was on 24 hours curfew. I called up MAS office in Melaka and I managed to get a seat from Melaka to Ipoh on 15th.May. The next, I called up Rest House Melaka for a room and there was plenty available. When I checked in at the Rest House, there was only one other occupant besides me. That guy was a Rothman Executive from KL and unable to proceed home. I did not sleep well because the situation was still tensed and the room was huge. On the 15th May morning I took the cab to Batu Berendam Airport and off I flew to Ipoh with a stopover at Subang Airport. That was my first experience flying in an airplane and it was Fokker Friendship. My parents were happy to see me back and I related to them that the KL brothers were safe and sound.

In Ipoh it was a night curfew and most of the time I was watching TV. One week later I went back to PD by road and the situation was under control. Back in PD, the night curfew was still on and for me who worked on shift; the mini bus would fetch me to and fro the Refiney.

The four bachelors in the house stocked canned food and bottled drinks. My housemate Zainuddin bought biscuits, bottle juice and several cans of lychee fruits. I remember Hassan and I played prank on him. We took the lychee can, cleanly open the bottom, consumed the content, cleaned the can and placed back on the dining table. Zainuddin found out the can was empty and the first suspect was me and of course I denied. Allah punished a sinner like me when I accidentally drank a kerosene from a bottle on the table which I thought was plain water. We all had a good laugh. The memory really touched me especially when Hassan had gone back to meet the Creator. At every May 13, I always remember, Hassan, Zainuddin and Lam Soo Keat, my other housemates whom I had lost touched. What I heard, he married a Thai and residing somewhere in Thailand.

Sometimes in July, situations were back to normal and night curfew was lifted. I could go to work normally and the people were slowly getting back to their senses. I have no problem with my Chinaman and Indian friends and we got along fine as it used to be even before May 13. In fact the bond became stronger because we were protecting each other. I remember my shift mates was Ho Kok Lin, Angamuthu, David Yek, Osman Ismail, Bernard Lim, Ghaffar Tamam and few others whose name I had forgotten. The shift superintendent was Yap Chee Meang and we nickname him as Tai So.

Malaysia……please no more of May 13. It doesn’t worth it. No one gain but a lot to loose. I dare not even want to talk about who started it and why it happened. It was a painful lesson to everybody. I believe in FREEDOM but sometimes freedom itself has its own boundaries.