TUNKU Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj finds himself alone in a back lane between two rows of houses. Looking around, he notices that the alley is narrow, dirty and covered with a disgusting layer of slime. With the quantity of filth more than what he’d seen before in his life, Tunku pauses momentarily to consider his options.
Just at that moment, sewer rats, the size of medium-sized domesticated cats, swarm out of the drain on his left, surge to the middle of the lane and begin gnawing at the dirt. Tunku moves to the opposite side in an attempt to avoid the ferocious looking rodents. Unfortunately, Tunku discovers that his path is completely blocked by a large swarm of blue flies emerging from the drain on the right.
As more and more pests appear, Tunku decides that time is of the essence. He plucks up his courage and chooses to forge ahead by braving the lesser of the two dangers. With his arms raised to protect his eyes and face, Tunku pushes his way through the blue flies.
The winged creatures swarm all around Tunku and pursue him for a short distance. They eventually concede and allow Tunku to move on to a clean road with fresh air. Once safe, Tunku closes his eyes and heaves a sigh of relief.
His eyes fluttering open, Tunku finds himself in his bedroom and realises that the incident was just a bad dream. Unable to understand the meaning of his nightmare, the Malaysian Prime Minister mentions it to his wife, Sharifah Rodziah Syed Alwi Barakbah who surmises that the unusual dream portended evil that would bring deep trouble to her husband and the nation as a whole.
I rub my eyes in disbelief. I’d have considered this a tall tale had it not been published in Tunku's book, May 13: Before and After. In one of the chapters, Tunku mentioned that the dream took place on May 2, 1969, just eight days before the scheduled Malaysian General Elections and exactly 11 days before Kuala Lumpur went up in flames as a result of the darkest incident in our nation's history.
Unable to interpret his dream satisfactorily, Tunku decided to jot key points in his pocket diary and began keeping an eye out for future events which he hoped would help provide clues to solve the mystery.
RIOT PRECURSOR
Two days later, during the early hours of May 4, 1969, three police constables on their rounds in Kepong came across a group of youths painting pro-communist signs on the road with red paint. When questioned, the men started attacking the police with pieces of wood as well as iron spikes and balls before retreating to a nearby market.
The constables gave chase and were forced to open fire in self-defence when the youths resisted arrest and began turning on them. In the end, one of the trouble makers was injured and eventually died in hospital.
There was a general unease in the capital when news about the death spread by word of mouth. Three people, a Chinese couple and a Malay man approached the police for permission to hold a funeral procession on Election Day but were given the green light to hold it a day earlier.
The former were committee members of the Kepong Labour Party branch which the dead youth was a member of while the latter was the President of University Malaya Students' Union. Unknown to the police at that time, the funeral procession was just an excuse for the communists to hold demonstrations and fire up anti-government feelings among the people.
The well planned event, which traversed about 13 kilometres at a snail's pace with thousands of people taking part and thousands more providing vocal support from the roadsides and five-foot way, lasted almost an entire day.
UNPROVOKED ACT
Led by 500 motorcyclists, the procession came to a stop in front of the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) headquarters. There, the Labour Party members and communist sympathisers hurled violent verbal attacks against the authorities. Umno wasn’t spared as it was the dominant party in the Alliance-led government. This unprovoked act deeply enraged the Malays.
When told of the incident, Tunku admitted that the authorities had been too tolerant in their attitude towards law and order. He said that the incident could have been averted if the police had insisted that the dead Labour Party youth be taken back to his village in Kepong for final rites and burial instead of being kept in the Jalan Sultan House of the Dead which is right in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.
Recalling his dream, Tunku suddenly realised that the rats were communist instigators and Labour Party members who were hell bent on flouting the law and disrupting public peace. He was sure that there wouldn’t have been any elections at all in Kuala Lumpur if the funeral procession had taken place on Election Day, May 10, 1969.
After the procession, the whole of Kuala Lumpur was awash with all sorts of rumours, spread with the sole intention of stoking the flames of racial conflict. As the days wore on, those untruths slowly reached the ears of Malaysians living outside the capital and began causing widespread panic.
POSTAL SLOGANS
Pausing from my reading, I suddenly remember two plain looking envelopes in my postal history collection. Dated May and September 1969, the slogan cancellations "DON'T SPREAD RUMOURS" and "DON'T LISTEN TO RUMOURS" on them must have been one the methods used by the authorities to significantly reduce the number of false news.
Fake news have existed long before instant messaging services and social media came into existence. Like what we see today, misinformation in the past have the uncanny ability to evolve and grow out of proportion at lightning speed. As such, it was important for Tunku to stop the spread of fabricated stories before they destroyed Malaya.
Returning to the book, I learn that on the morning of Election Day, Tunku became even more worried when his tasbeh or prayer beads caught a table corner and broke just as he was getting up from his knees after the first prayer of the day. The beads had been in use for many years without incident and for them to break on such an important date signified an omen that was neither good nor favourable.
UNPOPULAR POLICIES
In the aftermath of the election, Tunku attributed the relative success of the opposition to several key government policies that were deemed unpopular among the people. Among them were the loss of Penang's free port status and the lingering question about the National Language. Although Malay had been recognised as the National Language since Merdeka, the communists kept on harping about the issue and insisted that Chinese language be considered as well.
At the same time, Tunku regretted the actions of all the opposition party leaders as they derided, scorned and violated the Federal Constitution as well as mocked democracy. There were many utterances with regard to multi-lingualism and other racial issues that Tunku thought were thoroughly objectionable.
On the other hand, the Alliance which stood firmly and religiously by the Federal Constitution tenets became the target for attack from all sides. Tunku, however, took heart in the election results as it proved that a vast majority of the people were still solidly behind the his coalition and looked upon the Alliance as custodian of the Federal Constitution and defender of the charter of liberty, individual rights and, above all, security.
Two days later, Dr Tan Chee Khoon and his Gerakan party members decided to hold a celebratory parade which was joined by the DAP. The procession went smoothly as planned but problems began to arise after it ended.
COMMUNIST RATS
The rank and file became unruly and indulged in indecent gestures, insults and tirades that played right into the hands of those whom Tunku interpreted as sewer rats that appeared in his dream. That evening, two lorry loads of instigators turned up in Kampung Baru and other Malay areas and began provoking and jibing at the local residents there.
Those acts prompted the Malays to hold their own victory parade. On the fateful day of May 13, 1969, Malay youths gathered within the Selangor Mentri Besar's house compound in Jalan Raja Muda. Things quickly got out of hand and the incensed crowd began running amok.
At that time, Tunku was resting in his Alor Star house after meeting the leaders of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), two key component parties of the Alliance. They were there with the intention of giving up leadership as it was obvious that the Chinese and Indian support were no longer with the MCA and MIC, respectively.
Tunku acknowledged their contribution to the Alliance and loyal service to the country. He told them that it wasn’t right to throw in the towel at what must be the most critical moment in Malaysia's history.
SCATTERED BEADS, BROKEN PEACE
Right at that moment, it dawned upon Tunku that the coming apart of his prayer bead string foretold the broken peace in Kuala Lumpur and the shattering of the precious harmony between the various races in Malaysia.
At around 6.30 pm, Tun Abdul Razak briefed Tunku on the critical situation in Kuala Lumpur. Realising that time was of the essence, Tunku immediately went on radio and television to express his sorrow and declared a state of emergency in the Malaysian capital. During his address, Tunku reiterated willingness to extend the emergency throughout the nation if it was deemed necessary to restore peace to the country.
The strict enforcement of law and order and the unwavering determination of the authorities to nab all the troublemakers eventually brought calm back to Kuala Lumpur. It took Tunku nearly a fortnight later to figure out the last remaining occurrence from his dream, the blue flies. On the night of May 25, 1969, Tunku was told that his old friend, Datuk Syed Esa Almanoer was on the phone asking for him. Instead, the caller turned out to be a stranger who asked Tunku to step down as Umno leader.
BLUE FLIES IDENTIFIED
Although ignored, the caller kept calling for several consecutive nights. Weeks later the voice of dissension became so loud and brave that letters condemning Tunku openly circulated among members of the public. Tunku was utterly shocked by this hate campaign and equated the people who penned the scurrilous letters to the bothersome blue flies in his dream.
The last few pages of Tunku's book are the most impactful. In them, Tunku said that the May 13 racial riots served as lasting reminder to all Malaysians about the extreme dangers that lie ahead if we continue playing on the sensitivities, traditions and customs of the various races in our highly mixed society.
He emphasised that Malaysia's existence as an independent nation was sufficient proof that in our diversity lies our fundamental strength. He acknowledged that the successes won, and prestige earned throughout the world, were not due to the efforts of one race but of all races that call Malaysia home.
As such, Tunku urged all Malaysians to continue learning to live together in a spirit of tolerance, understanding and mutual respect. He made it clear that we had no one but ourselves to depend on - both as a nation as well as individuals. During that time of national healing, Malaysians were asked to have unshakable faith and believe that the best was yet to be for all of them.
Reaching the end of the absorbing book, I remind myself that much has happened in our country since the racial riots that occurred exactly 50 years ago. Today, Tunku's Alliance which evolved into Barisan Nasional after 1969 is no longer in power while those who were once sworn enemies are now part of Malaysia's new ruling coalition.
Although the political landscape has changed drastically, one pertinent point still remains. On May 13, 1969, we stood on the brink of despair. With determination and strong will, we pulled ourselves back from falling into the abyss. This black mark in our history must serve as a lesson on the dangers of complacency that we must never ever forget.