MEI 13 - BUKU PENUH KONTROVERSI

MAY 13: Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969
Author:
Kua Kia Soong
Publisher:
SUARAM
Year:
2007
Number of page:
136

This is the first credible account of the May 13, 1969 racial riots in Malaysia, using documents recently declassified at the Public Records Office, London, after the lapse of the 30-year secrecy rule.
These documents provide the only available confidential observations and memoranda by British and other foreign embassy operatives based on their intelligence and contacts with local officials and politicians. They include dispatches by correspondents which were then banned in Malaysia.
A social scientist, Kua Kia Soong provides a fresh political analysis of this "May 13 incident". In his view, the riots were by no means a spontaneous outburst of violence between Malays and Chinese but rather a planned coup d'etat by the ascendant state capitalist class against the Tunku-led aristocracy. He discusses the contradictions of the post-Independencec Alliance racial formula and traces the rise of this new Malay capitalist class which has ruled Malaysia since 1969.
These documents clearly show who were responsible for the violence and pose the question why the security forces allowed the violence to go on. With this publication, it is hoped that the frequently raised "spectre of May 13" by the Barisan Nasional government will be forever put to rest.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. Kua Kia Soong is a director and founding member of human rights organisation, Suaram. He was a Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya (1990-95), a former political detainee during Operasi Lalang (1987-89) and former lecturer at the National University of Singapore (1978-79).

KOMEN
Kenyataan Kementerian Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (KDN) bahawa kementerian itu tidak berniat untuk mengharamkan buku “May 13 Declassified Documents on the Racial Riots of 1969” tulisan Dr Kua Kia Soong tentulah dialu alukan. Sebelum ini, tindakan pegawai KDN merampas buku tersebut dari kedai buku dan melarang buku itu dijual, telah membangkitkan bantahan meluas pelbagai pihak khuatir buku itu akan terus diharamkan. Memang tidak masuk akal jika buku Dr Kua itu diharamkan hanya kerana ia berbeza dengan versi rasmi kerajaan. Versi rasmi itu menganggap provokasi penyokong pembangkang yang merayakan kejayaan mereka dalam pilihanraya umum 1969 merupakan punca utama rusuhan 13 Mei. Maklumlah Perikatan telah mengalami kekalahan teruk dalam pilihanraya umum terbabit. Perikatan telah hilang majoriti dua pertiga dalam Dewan Rakyat. Di samping itu, Pulau Pinang sudah jatuh ke tangan Parti Gerakan dan Kelantan pula jatuh ke tangan PAS, sedangkan di Perak dan Selangor Perikatan juga gagal memenangi kerusi majoriti.