14. REACTION | The May 13 Tragedy

Haji Ahmad Razali made the following statement to the Police:

"On the morning of 12th May. 1969 I intimated to the Y.B. Menteri Besar, Dato' Harun, that the UMNO Youth of Kampong Bahru was desirous of holding an UMNO procession with a view to showing to the Opposition parlies that the UMNO too had a good reason to celebrate as they were not defeated in the Slate Elections. I told the Menteri Besar that the UMNO Youth was greatly embittered by the behaviour of DAP and Gerakan members and supporters who, since the morning of 11th May. 1969. had been going about in Kuala Lumpur and Pctaling Jaya shouting humiliating and insulting words at the Malays, in so far as the UMNO Youth of Kampong Bahru was concerned, the members would not have minded if the insults were thrown at the Alliance or UMNO. But. as I was told by many of the members, the insults, such as 'Apa Melayu boleh buat' and 'Melayu boleh balek jadi sakai' were too hard for them to accept as they were directed to the Malays in general and not to UMNO or the Alliance. The Menteri Besar agreed to the proposal to organise an UMNO victory procession but warned me that the procession must be conducted in a legal, peaceful and orderly manner.

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"On getting the Menteri Besar's agreement I told members of the UMNO Youth Kampong Bahru that they should rally as much support as they could as otherwise there was no point in organising a procession. They agreed to my proposal that the procession be held on the evening of May 13, 1969, to commence at 1930 hours. The assembly point was the Menteri Besar's residence.

"On the night of 12th May, 1969 at about 2130 hours I went along in my car to a number of Malay kampongs in Kuala Lumpur to contact UMNO leaders in order to gather enough support. The Kampongs I visited were Kampong Dato Keramat, Gombak (8 1/2 milestone). Kampong Petaling, Kawasan Melayu, Kampong Haji Abdullah Hukom, Kampong Pandan Dalam and Kampong Jaya. I told them when and where the procession would start. I spent about four hours visiting the various kampongs.

"The response of all the UMNO leaders that I met that night was tremendous. They were keen to gather support and take part in the procession themselves. They said that insults such as 'Melayu sudah habis' and 'MARA boleh tutup' were unwarranted. Some of them told me that during their victory processions, many Gerakan and DAP supporters had made vulgar gestures at the Malays when passing through Malay areas . . . . "

Dato' Harun bin Haji Idris. the Menteri Besar of Sclangor. related to the Police in a statement, that. "On

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Sunday, 11th May, 1969 at about 1900 hours, I returned to my residence in Kampong Bahru from a visit to Morib. The same evening a number of successful Alliance candidates came to my residence to discuss the formation of the State Government. However, as they were still preoccupied with the election results there was no opportunity to discuss anything positive towards forming a new Selangor State Government.

"That night I began to get telephone calls from persons who identified themselves as UMNO supporters, informing me of the behaviour of the participants of Opposition victory processions. Their conduct were regarded as insulting to the Malays. These calls continued to come until the following evening . . . . "

Dato' Harun then related how his Political Secretary, Haji Ahmad Razali, subsequently visited and informed him that a group of UMNO supporters who had arrived at his house had expressed their strong desire to hold a victory procession. Dato' Harun invited them to his residence and in his statement, continued, “In the beginning I tried to discourage them from holding a victory procession by stating that something untoward might happen. However, after I was given the assurance that the procession would be held in a peaceful and orderly manner and that a Police permit would be obtained for it, I agreed to their suggestion about holding the procession. In order to lend respectability to it and ensure that the participants behave

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themselves, I agreed to take part and lead the procession. As I felt that I should advise the crowd before the procession commenced. I told them that the participants should assemble in my compound. I could then also take the opportunity to inform the Malays of my intention to form the State Government. Thus I might be able to allay any fear they might have on this matter . . .

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