On May 13, 1969, violence broke out between the Malays and the
Chinese, sparked off by an election setback for the Malay-dominated
ruling alliance. The riots lasted several weeks, with the death toll
said to be 196.
Politicians often raise the tragic incident to cow Malaysians into
maintaining the status quo – one that had seen the ruling government in
power for 55 years.
But while analysts did not rule out the possibility of another racial
riot, they said it would only occur if manufactured by certain
quarters.
“The threat of May 13 repeating itself is real but only if there are
people manipulating the incident,” Prof James Chin of Monash University
told FMT.
“It is not likely to happen spontaneously,” he stressed, adding that
unlike other countries, violence was not inherent in Malaysia’s
political culture.
“There are lots of right-wing groups, for example, certain Malay
groups – you know what I’m talking about – who will be happy to have
such riots take place,” he said.
Analyst Ong Kian Ming echoed this sentiment, saying that the
incumbent government might be desperate enough to orchestrate a riot if
the results of the general election were not in their favour.
“There are efforts by some quarters to create this fear-mongering in order to achieve political ground.
“If this continues, it is possible that if the election results are
close, the incumbent government may feel desperate enough to manufacture
violence in order to hold on to power,” he said.
But the USCI lecturer said that if any group attempted to use
violence as an excuse to stay in power, it would most likely backfire.
“The Malaysian electorate is more mature now. If the incumbent
government uses these dirty tactics, it will only hasten their
departure. There will certainly be a backlash,” he said.
Malaysia has changed
Ong cited the many changes between Malaysians today and those four
decades ago as proof that it was unlikely that another racial riot would
manifest itself on its own accord.
“The Malaysian electorate is much more mature compared to the
electorate in 1969. We can see that in the 2008 general election, where
there was a peaceful transfer of power in five states.
“I think that is a testament that Malaysians have matured politically and will not fall into the racial bait trap,” he said.
Ong also said the rise of the Malay middle class would also make
Malays less likely to engage in violence with their Chinese
counterparts.
“The Malay middle class is much larger compared to that of 1969 and
they would have a lot more to lose if the racial riots were to take
place.
“That means many will do all they can to prevent something like this happening,” he said.
He added that there now existed a strong middle ground in civil
society which would decrease the likelihood of racial rioting, citing
the recent Bersih 3.0 rally for free and fair elections as an example.
“The Bersih movement, in which Malaysians from all ethnic groups took
part in it, carried on without any incidence of violence. It was only
until the police fired tear gas that violence arose,” he pointed out.
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