May 13, 1969 Revisited. An Old Soldier's Perpective.

mmc

Sempena Ulang Tahun 13 May 1969 esok, sini saya post semula extract daripadablog yang mempamirkan pengalaman anggota tentera bertugas sewaktu kejadian itu dan peristiwa2 yang mungkin sehingga kini hanya menjadi khabar2 angin keran status "rahsia/terhad"nya. DIINGATKAN SECARA KERAS ini bukan untuk menaikkan semangat perkauman tetapi sebagai satu tatapan betapa professionalnya anggota keselamatan kita bertugas sewaktu titik hitam negara kita ini yang sekarang ini seolah2 mau dilupakan...


Prakata :

My old school e-group has a current discussion topic that started because of Dr. Kua Kia Soong's latest book on the subject matter.

The interesting thing about the discussion is that we have a perspective from a retired army colonel that I am sure not many have come across. Mind you, the Colonel is a non-Chinese/Indian and I am posting his views here as it was written. I also hope to get a retired senior police officer's (probably Dato' Seri Yuen Yuet Leng) perpective on the subject (especially in the context of the colonel's post) if he would consent to share with us.

mmc

Pengakuan Colonel dia tidak terlibat secara lansung :

Re: May 13 incident

Dear Vinnie,

I was a student in UK late 1967 to early 1970. I missed it although my Regiment was in the thick of it. The Board of Inquiry Papers have not been declassified to "Terhad" but never mind I'll still give the relevant info in a value-free manner in the week-end. My brother (Tiger-Putera) is a retired general and I'll get some history from him.

Colonel

mmc

Pandangan Kolonel berkenaan insiden itu.

MAY 13th

Dear Vinnie & Paul,

I shall write what I know of how the situation on May 13th & 14th, 1969, degenerated into a chaotic Chinese-Malay bloodbath and the part played by some soldiers in not being impartial and showed shockingly bad discipline.

I'll try to make it short and precise coz the few readers that we have in this egroup may not reject it as boring. Of course, you may,and you are most welcome,to come back with questions in any area and if I don't know, I'll find the answers from my colleagues.

The loss of Selangor State to the opposition in May 1969,sent the Alliance in disarray. The MCA withdrew from the Alliance and the MIC was quivering in fright not knowing what to do next. The Tunku, a solidarity maker and not an administrator was at the height of his incompetence.

Tun Razak and Tun Ismail leapt out of his shadows. Razak was an administrator and not a solidarity maker. Ismail was neither there nor here. Tan Siew Sin proved to be a man ungraceful under pressure - he threw his arms up and caved in.

The key man was the Menteri Besar, Harun Idris. He was a political thug with greed for land, money, power and pretty women. The situation was ideal for Harun to achieve his ambition of being a Malay hero and future PM. His riches were untold and could eventually purchase the Holiday Inn on the Park, KL, in cash.

After the elections results were announced, Indian thugs in lorries began taunting the Malays. The Chinese, in a procession carried a dead body to KL and was mishandled by the Police. You could cut the tension in KL with a butter knife.

Harun began calling and assembling young Malay youths to his palatial house. He gave fiery speeches a'la Geobbels. The situation was ripe for a conflagration. I will not repeat what Dr. Kua has written in his book - May 13. They are accurate as far as the stories of the dreadful mayhem. In my humble view the rest is unsupported by evidence.

The Tunku asked his nephew, General Tunku Osman Jewa, the Commander of our Armed Forces, to take over control of the govt. Osman refused. Razak and Ismail moved in.

The political situation was like, "High Noon". This was the moment critique for John Wayne. Razak selected Maj-General Ibrahim bin Ismail who was deputy army commander. Ibrahim was a man of the highest integrity. A graduate of the Indian Military Academy, in Poona, fought in Middle East as an officer of the Punjab Lancers and later parachuted into Malaya to join Force 136 and was caught and imprisoned by the Japs.( Read his book," Call me Miriam" ). Ibrahim moved immediately to take control through the National Operations Centre (NOC).

The situation on May 13th was seriously exacerbated by the suspicion of Sir Claude Fenner, the long serving expat IGP that the Army was going to mount a coup d'etat. Intelligence from the Special Branch did not flow to the Army like in the past. The Police played a game of intransigence with the Army.

Young Army colonels wanted a coup de main operation using heliborne commandos to capture Harun at his palace.Of course, no deal. There was a total breakdown of the usual relationship between the civil service, police and the armed forces. This was what allowed the situation to get really bad. The police had a hidden agenda and it was based on its jealousy and hatred of the Army.

The Chinese in KL began to organize themselves more coherently. 30 Chinese men who held gun licenses got together in Jalan Silang, in the top floor of a building to discuss defense of the community. Army intelligence got info of it. Lt Chua, a Melaka Baba from a rich family, commanded a group of commandos and using helicopters attacked them through the roof by abseiling through the windows. There was no casualties and Chua captured the whole lot. When the prisoners got downstairs, there was a very big crowd of concerned Chinese. But Chua and some Chinese lads in the commando assault team looked like Malays coz they had camouflage paint on their faces. The rumours multiplied. Malay troops have taken " our kids" to be slaughtered. Chua finished a colonel in command of the Commando Regt, a decent Baba, a patriot and scholar, a soft spoken tough guy. He is currently the GM of the National Golf Club, Subang.

The real story of May 13th was the sporadic battles and mayhem between Malay thugs emanating from Kpg. Baru and Chinese gangsters. Indian small-time thugs fled into the wood work. There was no plan on the part of Razak and Ismail to mount a coup against Tunku. The situation was fortuitous to ease the Tunku out with dignity as required in Malay culture. Dr. Kua is wrong.

More than anything else, it was a bungle by the Police. There was totally no communist involvement. DAP, essentially a racist party like UMNO showed its true colours. Harun's ambition was not to lose his status as Menteri Besar. The whole thing was a stupid miscalculation, Malay immaturity and fanaticism. All other postulations are academic.

We can have May 13th again if we have leaders like Nazri, Bung Mokhtar, Ahmad Said Yusof, Baharrudin and almost all PAS champions.

General Ibrahim moved into NOC with alacrity bringing with him high powered colonels and majors. He activated what's legal within our laws, the NOC - SSEC - DSEC system. At NOC level, the PM, Forces Chief, IGP, Info minister, internal security minister, Head Special branch and other govt minister would confer to run the country. NOC controls the States through the States Security Executive Committees which have the MB as chairman, the state army commander, the police chief, the state head of Special Branch and the relevant civil servants. The SSEC controls the districts through the District Security Committee, chaired by the DO and replicated as the state SSEC. This was a system employed during the Emergency and Konfrontasi and its very efficient.

In sum, Razak had mounted a coup to take over the admin control of the country through Gen Ibrahim. The Tunku's days were over.

MORE TOMORROW, Vinnie.

mmc

Vinnie & Paul,

There was no hidden plot for the May 13th incident. It is as puerile as saying that the Jews planned 9/11. It was a spontaneous manifestation of our frailty. The Malays had feared that they were losing political power. Harun Idris behaved like a Mafia chief. Chinese and Malay thugs multiplied the mayhem and ill-disciplined soldiers shot, robbed, burnt and threatened the innocents.

The breakdown of the command and control structures of the enforcement forces of law and order to nip the bloody chaos in the bud further added misery to the appalling scenario. The area most effected by looting, burning and murders was Kpg Baru and the adjacent parts. Malay thugs took total control of this Malay labyrinth. The police was not around or simply acquiesced.

One Ranger Company of 120 men was on duty in the Advanced Training Centre in Port Dickson as Demonstration Company for tactical maneuvers. It was ordered to move asap to quell the chaos in Kpg Baru. The Rangers moved in aggressively and impartially and within a short time brought the situation under control. The Malay thugs fled. Suddenly, the Rangers were withdrawn to Taiping. They were to join the rest of their Unit and move to Butterworth Air Force Base with a mission to capture and stabilize Penang Island before 1st light 15th May.

There was a hartal in place in Penang mounted by the Chinese. 6th Bn. Royal Malay Regt (1000 men) replaced the Rangers in Kpg Baru. As an aside, the Rangers rapidly captured the Prai Ferry Point. Strategic and critical areas of the Island were quickly taken by heliborne deployments. Two curfew breakers were killed. One by Lt Ahmad Johan (Now, Tan Sri, the CEO of Airod) and the other by Lt Walter Ted Wong anak Tedung (Now CEO of Sarawak Foundation). The Ranger Tactical HQ choppered and based in the lawn of the Chief Minister's Istana (Lim Chong Yew's). An officer shouted the Ranger war cry and declared that the space was Ranger country and raised the Ranger flag in place of Penang's. The CM came out pale and shaking. The scene must be horrifying for him seeing for the first time strange humans with tattoos on their throats, speaking a different language and rather brusque and belligerent. Out of curiosity, he stayed to see how Rangers were commanded and controlled by the Commanding Officer and the key staff officers of the HQ. I imagine he fled when the Iban sucked their pork soup and ate their rice as late night meal. He must have been offered the gruel. The officers would have eaten quietly with a few drops of Tabasco added to the soup.

The Island became peaceful overnight and soon the Regt would hand over power back to the CM. Lim Chong Yew was very grateful and gave a makan besar and adopted the Unit as his own. Later over Happy Hours back in Taping, the officers cheered to, " HRH Lim's Royal Rangers." He visited the Regt in Taiping and presented a miniature Longhouse in Gerrard's Silver which must have cost a bundle.

The 6th Bn in Kpg Baru was commanded by Lt Col Syed Hamzah, a Sandhurst graduate, who was a decent officer without any trace of racism. He was a Malay aristocrat with a charming Chinese wife. His unit was not being fed by any reliable intelligence and was groping in the dark. Malay informants, mostly thugs, came to give exaggerated and false info. It remains inexplicable to this day why helicopter reconnaissance was not done to monitor illegal assemblies and other misdemeanors. Syed shud have been commanding from a chopper with the attendant radio system. The Unit was not successful in its duties to stabilize the situation. The young officers in the Tactical HQ were misguided by the false info that the Chinese were murdering Malays and burning their properties. There were reported occasions when the the Unit acted partially.

The international press spotlight was on Syed Hamzah and he and his Regt came out poorly. There was no clear cut orders given to him. It was almost a lost command. A Malay colonel arrested two officers and 13 men robbing a Shell Station in Jalan Tun Razak. Troops from Batu Cantonment Camp formed into small armed groups and moved as roving bands robbing, looting and wild shooting. These soldiers were non-combatants - cooks, drivers, storemen, mechanics and general " bottle washers." They have never been in the jungle or had a leech bite and called themselves "logisticians." Their officers were mostly non-Malays and abdicated their responsibility of leadership and fled to the comfort of their homes. They did much damage to the good name of the Army. Senior Malay officers, from the combat arms, in disgust, moved around the critical areas to stop and arrest these lunatics. Their murderous acts were regarded as cowardice by the regular professional combat troops. They were never forgiven.

The great lesson-learnt of this tragedy by the Army was that the non-combatants must be controlled from the start. They were not well trained or led and their discipline broke down easily. The reality of logistic is that we need five of them to support one combatant!! The Army units behaved as if they were fighting a counter-insurgency and not in aid of the civil power through Public Order Presevation Ordinance. There was no communist involvement at all.

The lack of interaction and the usual interface with the Special Branch, the regular police into a joint command aggravated the circumstances. It became very clear later when the dust had settled, Claude Fenner, the IGP, influenced Tun Ismail to quickly establish a countervailing force against a military takeover. Tun Ismail had no military background at all. (His son Tawfik was In RMC with us). Tun approved with great facility the formations of a great number of Police Field Force Units. How naive? How does a police PFF unit face an army unit armed with tanks,mortars, artillery, engineers, electronic measures and counter measures, jets, helicopter gunship, elite paratroopers and above all well led and fit. Its so stupid but Fenner got his empire-built. The police was paranoid and thought the Army was going to kick their rear during May 13th. Now the PFF or GOF are languishing in their dusty camps all over the country, ill-trained and ill-led and the most non-cost-effective force in our history.

Everyone of us has hidden in our thought process some antagonism towards another race. The greatest danger to us today, in my view, is the "Penerapan Nilai-Nilai Islam" of Dr.M's. Most of my non-Malay friends don't really understand the "Concept of Historical Injustice" as meted out by the Colonials on the Malays. Lack of knowledge is a major problem in our society. We must avoid another May 13th, at all costs. Thus, we must reduce the baggage of primordial sentiments that are very high at the moment in our societal history.

I like to think that years of my life as a combatant has not gone to waste for Malaysia.I have a deep resentment of supercilious mother *****ers who think Malaysia is only for making money.

Colonel

mmc

RE: MAY 13th - Continuation

Dear Colonel,

As a matter of interest why did we have Claude Fenner a mat salleh as our IGP 12 years after merdeka?

mmc

Rebuttal To Rebuttal

From: muzaffar mohamed

RE: Who and What in May 1969

Chief of Armed Forces - General Tunku Osman.Chief of Army - General Tan Sri Hamid Bidin.
Army 2nd Div Commander - Gen Tan Sri Ibrahim.
Police IGP - Tan Sri Salleh Ismail.

The potential crisis was reported by CC Too(Head of Phsycological Warfare) to Army 2nd Div Commander. Special Branch had gathered information that the Labour Party then had been penetrated by the Communists.However, the KL police had permitted a procession that became the starting point of the crisis.

When the rioting hieghtened, POPO document was signed by Dep PM Tun Abdul Razak and accepted by Lt.Col Syed Hamzah. Thus, the Army committed 5th Royal Malay Regiment at first(CO-Lt.Col Syed Hamzah), with other men mustered from other support units - Ordinance, Supply, Maintenance. Another battalion was called in - 2nd RMR(CO-Lt.Col. Abulas Ismail).
By 1969, there were already 15 PFF battalions, divided between West and East Malaysia (expanded from Federal Jungle Companies formed by Colonial Police in 1950's).

During this time, police forces in KL/Selangor was supported by 1 FRU unit and 2 PFF battalions(under strength due to deployment for counter-insurgency ops). In 1969, Malaysia's armed forces was still small,with the forces divided between West and East Malaysia. Remember, back then, the counter-insurgency war with the Communists was still on in the Peninsular and Sarawak. Even the elite units, Vat69 and Army Commando were still in its infancy.

The National Operations Council formed in 1969 ensured cooperation between military,police and civil departments. Security operations were directed byArmy (Lt.Cols Ghazali Che Mat(OE) and JaafarOnn), supported by Police.Tun Razak and Tun Dr. Ismail directed the civil administration.

Muz

**********************************************************************************************************

Re: Who and What in May 1969

Muz,

Maj-Gen Datuk Ibrahim (then) commanded HQ 2nd Division based in Kuching in 1968. It was responsible for Sarawak. He was made Deputy Army Commander to Lt-Gen Hamid in Jan 1969. Datuk Salleh was the Dep/IGP and Fenner was IGP.

It was not the Labour Party. It has been banned by the Govt. It was the Labour Action Front led by En. Tan Tuan Boon of Melaka. During Dr. Kua's book release of " May 13" recently, Datuk Yuen (OE) reiterated that there was no communist involvement.

POPO can only be promulgated by the highest ranking police officer of a given area under riotous duress. The army then has the legal right to act. There is no document to sign. An emergency can be declared by NOC. There was a full-fledged Commando Regt based in Sg. Udang, Melaka in 1969 formed by the Brit Royal Marines in 1963 in Majeedee camp in JB. The NOC was formed in at the outbreak of the 1st insurgency in 1950. Its part of our law. Its a question of activation eg. Konfrantasi.


Colonel

mmc

Aku nak dengar kalau ada yang boleh memberi komen/kritis yang lebih mendalam terhadap insiden2 yang dinyatakan.

Aku sendiri mendengar secara 'hearsay" antara insiden2 itu tapi aku sendiri belum lahir pada tarikh kejadian sebenar so no komen.

Jadi kalau ada yang lebih mengetahui sila berikan pandangan di sini. Terimakasih.

areguard

Much, kisah 13 May ni bisa membuka parut luka2 lama yg dah sembuh..topik ni sensitif bagi kaum bukan Melayu...

windof

korang patut baca sunday star lepas, banyak rencana dari mulut orang2 dari pelbagai bangsa yg menempuh sendiri peristiwa tersebut. very sad indeed...

far-eiq

sensitif pun ia tetap perkara yg pernah berlaku.........kena terima je lah

mmc

itulah sebabya...fasal 'sensitif' sudah jadi macam legenda dan mulalah timbul perkara karut marut atau penyelewengan aka hearsay...benda aku post ni pun aku tak yakin akan kesahihannya, cuma aku nak tau samada ada yang boleh menyangkal atau mengakuinya..

cuma ambil iktibar dari kata-kata editors the star ni..

"More than 60% of the country抯 26 million population, if not a little more, did not experience that shameful part of the nation抯 journey, and yet it is still taboo to talk about it"

"For some opportunistic politicians, the May 13 tragedy is used to invoke fear among the people and to protect the politics of communalism.

Unfortunately, in our reluctance to talk about May 13 openly, the best of Malaysian stories, even in the worst of Malaysia, have not been narrated.

There have been many fantastic uplifting stories, where Malaysians of different races protected each other and these stories should be told."

http://thestar.com.my/news/story ... 17840&sec=focus

"It抯 been a long time but there are still numerous lessons to be learned from this darkest episode of our history. We should also honestly ask if we have truly learned anything so far, except for treating it as a subject of taboo or censorship"

"In this digital age when information on everything is available easily, we should not continue to believe what we think we know about May 13 through what was disclosed officially then.

Similarly, we should also not continue to believe what we learned about it through exaggerated accounts and blatant lies or through re-told prejudiced stories.

A few of the people who witnessed the tragedy are still alive but the majority of Malaysians are those who only know it as something that is too sensitive to discuss openly. Up to now, that is."

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/11/focus/21220276&sec=focus

[ Last edited by  mmc at 13-5-2008 11:26 AM ]

huskers

ouch......i take this as a slap in the face for the men in blue. but the col. was right, the trigger point was the funeral possession in downtown KL prior to the GE and the victory parade after the GE made the whole thing out of control.

thank God the people are wiser now as there was no victory parade after 8 /3/08.

mmc

well the non-combattant army support units also got their piece of shellacking from his account..also the same as their officers..however how fair is his view?

mmc

Sekarang nampaknya penglibatan ATM dalam krisis ini sedang diperkatakan. Ini dari NST :

NST Online[url=http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/Columns/2236838/Article/index_html]

Debmey

the truth is, UMNO was involved and the malay soldiers themselves were involved in the massacre of chinese. thats why nobody got arrested and the case was covered up.

mmc

hahahahaha..i was wondering when you will turn up with your poisonous comments.. TO YOUR SISTER IN LAW>>>I HAVE SPECIFICALLY MENTIONED THIS

"DIINGATKAN SECARA KERAS ini bukan untuk menaikkan semangat perkauman"

So if your brother in law cannot understand MALAY IT IS HIS LOSS IF HE CANNOT KEEP HIS RACIST COMMENTS TO HIMSELF. So delete his racist comments and don't touch the rest if they are not racist.

Dan bagi yang lain, please jangan mulakan flame war ok.

areguard

Si retard tu kalau ada peluang memang dia grab untuk nak burukkan UMNO dan tentera kita...

yusri191090

rusuhan kaum 13 mei 1969 kan.. tp knape cg kat kem PLKN aku kate rusuhan kaum pd 13 mei 1965?? heran aku..

mmc

hehehehehe..apa nak heran...ko sendiri congak berapa ramai yang tahu pasal peristiwa ni..kalau cg ko tu orang muda aku tak heran kalau dia sendiri tak tau citer ni..

aku sendiri ada personal interest fasal mak aku dihantar ke hospital untuk melahirkan aku dalam keadaan curfew, kalau tidak aku sendiri pun mungkin tak tahu menahu atau tangkap port fasal benda ini..

standupper

Err bro.. kau pelatih plkn ke?