Communal riots in Malaysia: the May 13th 1969 incident reconsidered

Abstract

On the evening of 13 May 1969, Kuala Lumpur became engulfed in racial rioting. There had been racial violence in the Malayan peninsula before this, but the violence of 1969 was the first since the achievement of independence in 1957 and the subsequent self-administration and self-rule. Commentators had always been quick to interpret the lack of full-blown racial violence before 1969 as evidence of effective and functioning racial harmony, while not disregarding the potentially explosive racial situation. Independence could have been achieved earlier, had it not been for British anxiety over the Malaysians' capabilities of managing race relations. The achievement of independence, and the lack of widespread racial violence afterwards, all apparently indicated Malaysia's success in effective race management. Yet, after twelve years of independence, and at a time when political stability had been assured and the economy was poised for a boom, racial violence still erupted in the capital city and resulted in the suspension of parliamentary practices for over a year. What happened, what civilians and politicians believe had happened, why it happened at the time that it did, and what it all meant, are some of the questions that the present work will seek to answer. The Kuala Lumpur riots of 13 May 1969 is certainly not a new topic. It has been commented upon by numerous authors, from either economic or political angles. The argument in these was that the politicking immediately prior to, and the racial chauvinism immediately after the elections of 1969, ended the thin veneer of racial harmony and co-operation. With blatant non-Malay contempt for the Malays out in the open, there was no longer any reason for the Malays to hold back their aggression, which had been tightly reined in by the leading Malay political party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO).