Republic of virtue 5/09

Was May 13, 1969 a natural occurrence? PDF Print
Posted by admin
Wednesday, 13 May 2009 10:39

virtue

Azly Rahman
http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/

Perhaps it was. That would be the answer to the event that has become embalmed as a semiotic of racial conflict. Perhaps it wasn't planned. We need more interpretations of this event. If we ban more books on this topic, we are afraid of holding a mirror to our history and ourselves.

If we encourage our youth to explore the roots of the bloody conflict, we will have a better generation of thinkers. No more "Ketuanan Melayu, China, India, Iban, Kadazandusun" or whatsoever notions of self-aggrandisement. Just the simple act of opening the dialogues of peace.

But was May 13 planned? I have some thoughts.

It has to happen when and because the lid of authoritarianism was lifted. It was the British lid that brought some kind of stability to the lowest of the lower class of Chinese, Indians and Malays.

Root of the conflict

May 13 was naturally orchestrated as a rude conclusion to the violence brought about by the system of capitalist exploitation; a system that operated successfully at various levels. At the top of the pyramid is the British ruling class, next came the Malay aristocrats and feudal lords or the sultans who collaborated unwillingly with the British robber-barons, The Sultans played the role of obedient tax collectors and managers of the industrial age capitalist system of production, run on the ideology of Oriental Despotism. At the lowest rung, true to the feudal production system, are the indentured serfs and the local padi cultivators.

The traditional/hereditary rulers were successful in making sure the rakyat in each state produces cheaply and sell their labour at dirt-cheap price in order for the feudal production system to continue to survive - so that the system could continue to fill the coffers of the British Empire and at the same time help enrich the local chieftains.

May 13 was a symbolic breakdown of this system of oppression – a radical protest against a feudalist-turned-aristocrat-prime minister who served the British well, after being educated in the ways and mannerism of the colonialists. British ideology of imperialism and race superiority/white supremacy couched in "scientific language of Oxford and Cambridge and royal academies this and that" were taught to the natives who would be rulers, so that the panopticon-synopticon matrix of colonialism may prevail.

May 13 was not merely a natural occurrence in the matrix of international capitalist production but a phenomena that occurred in many a society that undergo the stages of economic growth on the one hand and the stages of political conflict on the other. Combining these two, the race riots is a semiotic – political economic phenomena of deconstruction of socio-economic illusioned-stability – a contradiction in the capitalist mode of production. It was a coup d'etat of society against its own internal notion of progress.

It has a similar fundamental character of the pre-Roosevelt Socialist revolt of the 1930s, Paris Uprising of the 1960s, Iranian Bloodless Revolt and Revolution of the late 1970s, the Los Angeles Riots of the 1990s, the Jakarta burn-down of 1998, and the Paris Riots of 2005. In all these, the roots lie in the growth of the underclass and the problem of economic injustices and criminalisation brought about by neo-colonialist strategies of the ruling elite. Dehumanization is a fertile ground for inner repression.

May 13 may have the manifestation of a race conflict, but essentially it is one whose underlying force of mass anger lies in the clash of suppressed classes of varied ethnic origin.

Interpretations of the incident hav merely been few. Tunku Abdul Rahman wrote about it to explain why it occurred and how he was part of the problem and solution in one. That was an official historical narrative – a government's view of what transpired. Dr Mahathir Mohamad's Malay Dilemma offered another interpretation from his point of view, explaining why it happened and what transpired between the Tunku and him. That was another official explanation.

But again, I reiterate, the more interpretations of the incident the better – so that we may have many explanations and find patterns in the meaning of these explanations. One must however be equipped in the understanding of the complex interplay between technologies of control, the economics of oppression, the sociology of mass anger, and cybernetics of conflicts, the archaeology of mass cultural repression, the genealogy of the feudal-oppressive-matrix, and the ideology and power/knowledge dimension of communicative and propagandistic systems – all these – in order to understand the "Butterfly Effect" of May 13 1969.

May 13, 2009?

Maybe it is too early to predict or too dangerous to be Nostradamus-ising or soothsaying or be playing the numerology game of anticipatory politics. Or maybe there will not be a race riots as we are now glued to our television sets and sucked into the abyss and black hole of the Internet, unable to plan for a revolution nor be ready for any natural occurrence ala May 13, 1969.

Maybe our brain cells have died a natural death out of decades of being fed with the "feel-good" ideology broadcast through radio and television. Or maybe we have been systematically programmed to amuse ourselves to death through a system of mass consciousness and euphoria that has been telling us to be happy with what we have, while the super rich and powerful amongst us continue to rob the nation in broad daylight through a conspiracy with outside forces in the form of puppeteering investment arms and their tentacles.

I still think that the bloody riots of May 13 was an orchestrated natural disaster – something our forefathers of Merdeka/Independence crafted as part of the cultural logic of late capitalism.

We can only know the answers through books we do not ban. And through dialogues and deep reflection. We must encourage each other to offer newer interpretations, scientifically argued -- ones that will contribute to peace education for our nation.

Essentially, each and every one of us is an aristocrat. Born free and forever we shall remain so.


OUR USUAL REMINDER, FOLKS:
While the opinion in the article is mine,
the comments are yours;
present them rationally and ethically.
AND -- SET ALL I.S.A. DETAINEES FREE]



Comments (16)Add Comment
...
written by technoboy, May 13, 2009 10:45:28
Created by UMNO morons!
report abuse
disagree 2
agree 38
...
written by Bigjoe99, May 13, 2009 11:05:13
I accept that there was some natural behaviour that led to May 13.69. The problem is, it was not acceptable behaviour nature or not. At the very least, it was a failure to NOT walk away from the baser instincts.

Tunku, Tan Siew Sin all behaved impeccably to advise their constituents to walk away from the behaviour that led to the May 13 but they were ignored and sidelined even. It was a failure of elitist to lift the lowest denominator of their society... A warning to too much faith in elitism especially the pretty low quality elite that le*** us now...
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 14
...
written by charcoy feng, May 13, 2009 11:08:49
The banned books created some vacuum in the thinking capacity of Malaysians. Malaysians have been deprived of essential informations turning the people to an ignorant lot. If not for the internet era.... I can't imagine what would have been the result.
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 12
...
written by A MI, May 13, 2009 11:16:51
why talk about this at all? We should spend precious moments in the now on something as destructive as this dark event engineered and orchestrated by AMNO for the detriment of the nation?

Dr Azly I don't have to tell you about metaphysics- Energy flows to where attention goes....

MT readers let's keep our attention on getting rid of AMNO.
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 10
...
written by lawa88, May 13, 2009 11:19:04
May 13 di cipta oleh pengkhianat and perogol Malaysia. Tak payah tanya orang asing; bukti daripada yang pernah melalui gelap sudah mencukupi. Sudah saya dengar daripada kawan-kawan bekas tentera (RAMD) - mereka begitu bangga menceritakan peristiwa gelap itu. Saudara mara saya sendiri (Melayu) yang dari Rangers Battalion diarahkan balik ke barracks kerana anggota Rangers kebanyakan Iban - mereka tidak kira bangsa - tetap kuatkuasakan curfew; akibatnya mereka diarahkan dikurung di barrack. Sudah sampai masa Rakyat Malaysia bangkit dan singkirkan BeEnd. smilies/angry.gif smilies/angry.gif smilies/angry.gif
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 39
...
written by user1001, May 13, 2009 11:28:03
BN inclusive Zombie and Najis(PM) all are Cowards...Chicken! Ayam BerKokok! Hahahaha...
Scare to take challenge and afraid to loss out.. No Balls at all! Look down on all BN and Zombie and Malaysia Najis(PM).
Hey! Chicken Najis and Zombie "Man enuf to dissolve Perak Assembly?" Hahaha... I dun thk you guys are man enuf to take up this challenge! Coz you guys are chicken! smilies/cheesy.gif
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 8
...
written by user1001, May 13, 2009 11:32:35
If i got a chance to sit in the parliament, I will surely tell all the BN that they are chicken! Ayam Berkokok! hahahaah smilies/cheesy.gif coz they really deserve it. All BN are chicken! Look down on BN.
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 7
...
written by *********, May 13, 2009 12:16:45
Thank God for PAS and DAP as each time Umno and MCA lights the fuse for another May 13, PAS and DAP snuffs it out...More http://*********.********.com
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 4
...
written by Diz, May 13, 2009 16:30:45
I agree with a number of things Azly writes, but what on earth is 'an orchestrated natural disaster'? How can? Certainly, there's been insufficient research (for obvious reasons) and the crisis had multiple roots, but it's a bit of a stretch to still be blaming the 'British robber barons'.

Btw, the idea, propagated by Kua Kia Soong's book (wasn't banned, can buy at MPH) that Tun Razak and the ultras deliberately engineered the events of May 13th is not supported by facts, at least not by anything that Kua reveals. Interestingly, the official version (RM1 - no longer on sale?) released by the NOC was authored by Tun Razak not Tunku.
report abuse
disagree 1
agree 1
...
written by cruzeiro, May 13, 2009 20:06:16
Dedicated to user1001:
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 15
...
written by Fairminded, May 13, 2009 21:03:23
The constitution of Canada had a "not withstanding clause" in it in the name of "The Charter of rights". It is due to the wisdom of the then Prime Minister of Canada - Pierre Eliot Trudeau. It is to prevent "The Tyrany of the majority". For example, in the Nazi days, the government is indeed elected by the majority of Germans and the minorities, Jews or Germans of different political believes are under its tyrany. Such a "Charter of rights" will allow Canadians to challenge any law that is passed by the majority if they think that it is detrimental to the interest and welfare of the minoritie. In a democracy, the majority race, or followers of certain political philosophy will always dominate over the minority race or followers of a different political believes - known otherwise as the minority. In Malaysia, the constitution of Malaysia do not have the ketuanan Melayu clause. It is created by UMNO to perpetuate its power. Malays, with the constitutional Monarchy which is essentially of Malay cultural heritage will always be in the majority. So what is so moronic as to say that there is a tyrany of the minority! If BN gets thrown out of the government it is not only by the non Malays but Malays too. It will be done by the majority of a political believe that is antithema to the BN philosophy. In otherwords there is no tyrany of the minority. It is to create the wrong impression that the minority race, read Chinese, is taking the power from the Malays - read UMNO. However, UMNO is not equal to the political philosophy of the Malays. Let us not be fooled by this racist divisive policies of UMNO so that they can continue to ruin Malaysia for themselves and their cronies.
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 5
...
written by lampard, May 14, 2009 00:24:20
]May 13 1969 was designed by Razak, Harun, Mahathir and few other racist to lead the mass to "kill" and then enrich themselves with their policies.

Dr, mass killing never occur naturally! Be careful, what goes around, comes around!
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 8
...
written by Loh, May 14, 2009 16:17:52
///Tunku Abdul Rahman wrote about it to explain why it occurred and how he was part of the problem and solution in one. That was an official historical narrative – a government's view of what transpired. Dr Mahathir Mohamad's Malay Dilemma offered another interpretation from his point of view, explaining why it happened and what transpired between the Tunku and him. That was another official explanation.///

Tunku's view which was taken as the government's view was that May 13 was communists’ work. But Tunku spoke to RPK during his interview that he would have happily given up his power to the coup leader had they told him to do so. He was sad that the country had to go through the riots because people wanted power but had not the guts to tell him so.

Dr, Mahathir, or TDM, took May 13 as a break for him to enter UMNO inner circle. He was considered Malay by the grace of the 1957 Malayan constitution which provided under article 160 for the definition of Malay to include mamaks. TDM listed himself as Indian while studying in Singapore. Having been officially Malay since 1957, and with only 12-year standing as Malay he could not have felt the 'love' for the race as keenly as he claimed he had. This is evidenced by the fact that he chose to adopt two children from Pakistan in the 1980s when there must have been many more Malay orphans in the country.

The 1969 riots could have been argued convincingly to have been started by non-Malay and justifiable so. The Alliance government had done more for Malays than for non-Malays in pre-1969days, and so it was possible for non-Malays to feel that they had been discriminated against and the grievances could become unbearable, rather than for Malays to become angry that the unfair advantage they had been enjoying did not measure up to expectation. The sense of jealousy could only have come from the non-Malays against the special favour granted Malays based on public funds than Malays feeling envious of non-Malays for their wealth knowing full well that they worked for them. So, there could not have been a natural occurrence on May 13, it was a planned event. Even Tunku needed time to work out the reason for its occurrence.
report abuse
disagree 3
agree 8
...
written by AlwaysFair, May 15, 2009 22:21:29
Of course!! The 13th May incident was as NATURAL as the Sept 11th WTC bombings.
What you can't get through peaceful means do so by violent means.
The end justify the means. smilies/angry.gif
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 5
...
written by Loh, May 15, 2009 23:35:11
///By Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad

1.While we remember the 40th anniversary of the May 13 tragedy, we should move on. It’s time for closure of the sad, very sad incident.

2.The tragic and vicious incident need not have happened had Tun Razak’s message to Dato’ Harun Idris, the menteri besar of Selangor, reached him 30-minutes earlier or had Tan Sri David Tan Chee Khoon and Tun Lim Chong Eu spoken to Tun Razak 30 minutes earlier relaying their decision not to cooperate with DAP to form the state government of Selangor nor worked together in Perak and elsewhere. I was beside Tun Razak when he took the calls from them late past tea time on the fateful evening of 13 May. I recall clearly what Tun Razak told Harun “…the good news is you will continue to run Selangor. Chee Khoon and Chong Eu had just spoken to me that they want status quo preserved. So tell the people gathering at your house to disperse.” Harun thanked Tun and asked him to convey his gratitude to the two statesmen. Between five-to-ten minutes after that Harun rang Tun Razak to say that it was too late. As he was persuading them to disperse news reached the crowd that clashes had begun in Chow Kit Road and surroundings and beyond.
http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2009/05/15/may-13-tragedy-we-should-move-on/#comments///

That should answer the question whether May 13 was organized.
report abuse
disagree 1
agree 12
...
written by Taiping60, May 16, 2009 23:12:35
Pleased May 13 1969 racial riot was not natural. It was politically motivated and created by extremists within UMNO.
report abuse
disagree 1
agree 18

Write comment
This content has been locked. You can no longer post any comment.
You must be logged in to a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.