My sister and I were buying schoolbooks at the market. On the way back, I stopped to talk to my friend in Jalan Raja Alang while my sister went on home. At about 3pm, it happened.The political parties were protesting or something, with everyone displaying party flags. All of a sudden, people got very rough, like hooligans. All the races were the same, attacking each other. I ran all the way home. I don’t know how fast I ran.
Where I stayed, they threw tear gas till we couldn’t open our eyes and it hurt to breathe. We prayed to God for it to end. The curfew also prevented us from leaving the house, and in those days the toilet was a separate building outside the house so we couldn’t use it during curfew. Anyone who left their houses would be shot by the Gurkha soldiers.
We also couldn’t buy food because of the curfew, and even when they lifted it for a few hours, it cost too much since all the kedai runcit raised their prices. So we made porridge or cut pisang and ate it with rice. Susah. Memang Susah. When we went to the market, we didn’t know who were our enemies and who were our friends. Even my good friend who was Chinese treated us like the enemy – and we were only children then!
How do you view racial harmony today?
I think some still keep what happened [during May 13 1969] in their hearts, and these feelings against other races are passed to their children. During the British times, the Malays, Chinese, and Indians got along together. Why can’t we get along now? I think it’s the politics. Some people don’t think… they just jump into it and follow what the politicians say – Malay, Chinese, Indian… all the same. I pray it won’t happen again, because as I told my children, we are the ones who suffer, and if it happens now, it will be much worse than 1969.