ON the 55-year anniversary of a dark episode in our country’s history, we owe it to those who perished during the pogrom to at least name them and register their deaths. Where are the mass graves besides those at Sungai Buluh? There are stories about corpses being tarred to conceal their ethnic identities, corroborated by doctors working in Kuala Lumpur hospitals at the time.

Honour the victims by revealing their identities.

According to official figures, there were 196 deaths in the May 13 incident but foreign diplomatic estimates put it at several hundred. The real numbers could be uncovered by a truth and reconciliation commission.

We know that there were at least two burial sites for the May 13 victims – one in Gombak and the other in Sungai Buloh. Around 100 victims were buried in the Sungai Buloh cemetery with summary tombstones with “courtesy of the Malaysian government” inscribed on them. But even if we were to take the official figures at face value, how do we account for the other 96 victims? Were they all buried in Gombak? Where is the evidence of this? Can we honour them by revealing their identities and giving them a decent burial?

Their bodies should be exhumed and identified and the causes of death determined. Many were tarred and buried without ceremony. These are facts that truth and reconciliation commission could uncover by interviewing the victims’ families and friends; doctors and nurses on duty in the hospitals; Red Cross workers; policemen and soldiers on duty; politicians and journalists who covered the event; and of course Special Branch. Public institutions such as hospitals, the police and special branch should be made to open their files to the commission.

Declassify May 13 secrets

Perhaps now with a “unity government” in power, it is time to act like a mature and enlightened democracy and declassify the official secrets locked the vaults of the cabinet and Special Branch.  Official secrets are declassified in Britain after 30 years. That was how I was able to access the May 13 documents.

Truth and reconciliation commission

For Malaysians to exorcise the May 13 ghost, we need to establish a panel to identify and document the victims and to pay respects to all those who lost their lives; to hear the testimonies of the police, the army, hospital staff and participants, as well as to hear from those who lived through those weeks of 1969.

Isn’t it time we had the courage to record and confront our real history, just as Germany has done for its part in the last war, to bring about meaningful reconciliation once and for all and for us to become a nation at peace with itself.

Victims’ monument

Fifty-five years after the May 13 incident, imagine the powerful impact it if the government of the day were to use this anniversary as an opportunity to remember the past and honour the victims of the pogrom. A monument to the victims of May 13 would be appropriate to stand for human rights and against the racist violence. – May 13, 2024.

* Kua Kia Soong reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.