ALMOST five decades after the country’s worst racial riots broke out on May 13, 1969, young Malaysians believe that it is time to bury the past permanently.

They say that it a waste of time for politicians to keep on harping on the spectre of another May 13 happening if race and religious relations are not managed well.  

These young Malaysians cannot see the day when race and religious strife will reach breaking point and Malaysians will once again turn to violence to settle scores against each other.

Several hundred people were killed in the riots in 1969, that took place after the general elections.

For 21-year-old Nurul Aqilah Ahmad, a member of the Student Representative Union of Universiti Teknologi Mara, the May 13 incident has been overused as a propaganda tool and was no longer an effective bogeyman, especially on the younger generation.

“The May 13 incident is no longer a relevant model for the issue of racial harmony in Malaysia.

“We have been exposed to the ill-effects of a country in chaos. It is through these lessons that we will always respect the racial sensitivities in this country,” she said.

Nurul’s sentiments were shared by fellow student Satyarevathy Thangaraj, 23, who believed that there would never be a recurrence of the May 13 incident.

“I believe that May 13 will not repeat itself because the structure of society is so different today than it was in 1969. Then, the races were segregated according to economic activity and also geographically.

“The economic and social structure of our country has changed so much since the New Economic Policy,” said Satyarevathy, a student at the National University of Malaysia (UKM).

She also blasted the way politicians continued to evoke negative racial sentiments by using May 13 to scare the people into submission, adding that this would actually add to racial intolerance.

“This kind of scare tactic shouldn’t be happening because it would create a bigger gap between the races, she added.”

Still, a recent incident where Muslim worshippers at a surau in Johor beat up a Chinese man for honking incessantly during Friday prayers suggest that race relations continues to be a worrying fault line in the country.

When Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed referred to the incident, he brought up the May 13 riots of 1969, saying that religious and racial intolerance was still pervasive in society.

Nur Jazlan said the incident should serve as a lesson to the people, adding that it was further proof that the government was not merely trying to scare the people.

“What we saw yesterday did show that it can occur easily,” he was quoted as saying.

“This issue will not occur if there is tolerance and understanding among members of the public, especially young people.”

However, head of the strategic bureau of the University Malaya Association of New Youth (Umany), Ho Chi Yang, said the May 13 issue is just being used by politicians to divert attention away from bigger issues.

“This is especially apparent when the country is embroiled in big scandals like 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB),” said the 22-year-old.

Ho said that by doing so, politicians were feeding the fears of the people, and further delaying efforts to save the country.

“I really hope Malaysians will not be fooled by the politicians’ tactics, but focus their energy and efforts on bringing change to this country instead,” he said.

Instead of constantly using the May 13 incident as a deterrent against racial riots, politicians should instead be reviewing certain policies and practices which do not promote tolerance and equality, said Jean Vaneisha Ravindran, secretary-general of youth lobbyist group Challenger.

She is right.

We hope that the young who don’t believe that blood will be shed between Malaysians are also right. – May 13, 2017.