Unity Day on 13th May
13th May 1969 is seen as a black or red day depending on your viewpoint in our nation's history. I would not pretend to appreciate the whole gamut of feeling pertaining the date as I was born 3 years after. Everyone from my mother's generation have their own version of event, but what is striking, the subject is still treated at the same time as taboo and lessons to be learnt.
There was no clear clear picture of the event. It is not thought in school. There was no movies or objective documentary made of the event either. A lot of people in my generation were left guessing to the enigma of the date. The bloggers were going to town of course about the subject, but not all for the wrong reason. Should the subject be kept under the carpet, or perceived to be so as it is now?
The current generation craves knowledge. The internet basically opened the floodgate for them, and in searching for the appropriate information of the subject matter all it does is left plenty of question unanswered. A few years back, I was at a surau with my parents and the preacher or ustaz that came for the kuliyyah actually spoke about race relations in the years of the Prophet Muhammad and the Caliph. How tolerance was the key to success in the early days of Islam. Everything was going swimmingly well until he ranted along about May the 13th incident. How the death toll was higher that what's officially published, how further steps needed to be taken to stop another similar incident. A typical rant I thought. It got me thinking, how much does the ustaz really know about the subject?
He did not comment about the election held on the 10th. The victory parade by the mainly Chinese opposition (DAP and Perikatan) on the 12th going through of all places Kampung Baru. How the UMNO Youth rally commissioned the next day from the Selangor Menteri Besar's residence that resulted in 'open warfare' between the two races. Again I do not have all the facts. Everything I know is patchy. Unfortunately in my thirst for knowledge there is nowhere for me to turn to.
As one of the blogger suggested, why don't we turn this around and make May the 13th as something akin to Unity Day? I don't think the idea is half bad. It will certainly prevent May the 13th incident to be another political ranting come election day by the UMNO leaders. I can only but hope .....
