|
The Star says... It need not remain a black day |
|
|
|
|
Sunday, 11 May 2008 01:39pm |
|
©The Sunday Star (Used by permission)
ON Tuesday, it will be 39 years gone on the country’s most terrible tragedy and
the biggest blot in its history.
A nation that had barely turned 12 was torn apart along ethnic lines when people
succumbed to base human instinct.
It’s 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.
Instead of continuing to keep the events of May 13, 1969, in the deepest
recesses of our memory, as we have done all this while, there must be a rational
acceptance for a closure on the wretched chapter.
It is about time that we go through the needed process of sensibly and
unemotionally getting to the truth of what really happened on that fateful day
when lives, the number of which is still in dispute, were lost horrifically.
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.
Instead of trying to hide or ignore the tragic event, we should perhaps get to
the accuracy of what happened through a truth commission, accept it reasonably
and mark the day positively instead of negatively.
Yes, May 13 could still become a momentous day in the history for a good reason.
Perhaps we should denote it as a day to signify our collective decision to
accept the truth and recognise the vital need for all races to always regard
each other as brothers and sisters of the same nation.
A nation that has gone through such a tumultuous event should never be rife with
deep mistrust or bitter rivalries between communities that have lived together
for decades.
No one should harbour any fear of losing out to the other, for in this great
journey that we have embarked on, we can’t go it alone.
Trackback(0)
 |
News 
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Malacca Bar: Conference on the Roadmap to Local Government Elections 
Circular No 181/2008 : 22nd Sultan Azlan Shah Law Lecture
[Deleted by MBW]
On that fateful day, I was working in Kampong Baru. My friends told me "Go home straightaway today. Do not linger around in town. A lot of weapons had been collected in Datuk Harun's house." Please stop reminding us of that devilish day. Write about the weather, the stars and the moon if there is nothing else to write.
Thank you.
Tan Peek Guat