Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
13 May 1969
As the 1960s progressed, impoverished Malays became increasingly resentful of the eco-
nomic success of Chinese Malaysians, while the Chinese grew resentful of the political
privileges granted to Malays. The situation reached breaking point when the Malay-domin-
ated government attempted to suppress all languages except Malay and introduced a na-
tional policy of education that ignored Chinese and Indian history, language and culture.
In the 1969 general elections, the Alliance Party lost its two-thirds majority in national
parliament and had tied for control of Selangor State with the opposition made up of the
Democratic Action Party (DAP;
http://dapmalaysia.org/newenglish
) and Gerakan (the
People's Movement;
www.gerakan.org.my
). On 13 May, a black day etched in the city's
collective memory, at an UMNO-organised post-election meeting in Kuala Lumpur,
Chinese onlookers were said to have taunted those in attendance. The Malays retaliated, the
situation quickly flaring into a full-scale riot, which Malay gangs used as a pretext to loot
Chinese businesses, killing hundreds of Chinese in the process.
A curfew was immediately imposed on KL and a state of emergency announced with
parliament suspended for two years. Stunned by the savagery of the riots, the government
decided that if there was ever going to be harmony between the races, the Malay commu-
nity needed to achieve economic parity. To this end the New Economic Policy (NEP), a
socio-economic affirmative action plan, was introduced.
The Alliance Party also invited opposition parties to join them and work from within.
The expanded coalition was renamed the Barisan Nasional (BN; National Front), which
continues to rule Malaysia to this day.
Amir Muhammad's 2009 documentary
Malaysian Gods
commemorates the decade since the Reformasi move-
ment began in 1998 with the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim as deputy PM.
