Glimpses of May 13th curfew in a village!

My father commented that time passed very fast and the happiest period during his time was when the second world war was declared over and Japanese occupation ended and Malaya was free! Time is a relative thing, there is a Chinese saying, passing a day like a year, that describes relatively on how time plays a different role in our life when we encountered hardship and difficulties.

We are fortunate that we live in a country that is free of civil war and all races live in harmony. The May 13th incident was one incident long time ago that I could not interpret its political implication very much because I was still a lower secondary school boy. The whole episode started for me when I was half way through cutting my hair in a barber shop and the news was broken that racial riot started in Kuala Lumpur and rumor was spreading that it had already propagated all the way to Teluk Anson. Shops closed their doors while parents were searching the whereabout of their children frantically and gathering them to remain at home. I insisted that I must finish my hair cut before going home and stayed cool and calm while the barber worked his scissor patiently over my head, perhaps still ignorant and naive of the implication of racial riot. Very soon curfew was imposed with information vans blasting out announcement through loudspeakers that reminded villagers to stay inside their home during those specified hours under curfew. Army trucks rounding the village and the barking of dogs sighting strangers, and throwing of stones reminding villagers for doors or windows not close during the curfew hours were common happenings! Most villagers took it quite lightly for they did not understand the full meaning of curfew and some of them including my dad were caught while he went over to the neighbour for a chat. He ended up been locked up with the others in Kampar police station for the night with both sides of his upper arms bruised because the soldiers used their rifle handles to hit him on those portions. Side story was told that the soldiers were from East Malaysia, they made fun of their captives, and chucked biscuits into their mouths during the detention on the army trucks before handing them over to the local police station.

Soon a lot of the households were digging trenches behind their homes for hiding and some nights were spent in more remote homes of relatives of the village. Glimpses of Villagers broke loose and rushed in a hurry to purchase food from the grocery shops and market during certain specific non-curfew hours still remain in my mind. That was the dark history of Malaysia then!

The episode was over when our first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman stepped down and made way for Tun Abdul Razak to take over. After that incident,  suddently one day all the schools in Kampar gathered in the big football field in front of ACS Kampar for a event of "Muhibbah". We sang that song but the teachers did not bother to explain to us what is the significance of the event and the meaning of "Muhibbah". I only remember that the "Muhibbah" song was very nice!

As we grow older and see thing retrospectively, though that May 13 was a sad and isolated incident of this country, most Malaysians in general are very nice people irrespective of races. They are just ordinary folks trying to earn a decent living and feed their families. They do not care who rules the country and all they wanted is a peaceful and happy place to raise their children! We certainly dislike and condemn with disdain politicians who try to raise racial sentiment issues for their own gain at the expense of the harmony and peacefulness of this country

May God bless Malaysia,  let love, harmony and understanding continue to prevail in this beautiful and beloved country.