Remembering May 13

Remembering May 13 may not many people's happy moments. But for me it was my first exposure to political coffee shop talk. Those days the campaign had a festival atmosphere. A lot of interesting things happened. Movies, "ceramahs", sports carnivals and so on were organised.
I was 12 years old in 1969. Rather than remembering May 13, 1969 I very well remember May 12, 1969. I was traveling to KL in "kereta sewa" with my father from Tanah Merah Estate in Port Dickson. The driver was ferrying voters to polling stations on May 11. The driver and my dad were talking about the election results the day earlier. A lot was discussed but I still can recall the victory of Dr. Soorian in Port Dickson defeating Alliance candidate Mahima Singh. Mahima Singh, according to my father commented that a Guinness (stout) can buy Indian votes in PD. So my dad mentioned that the Indians thought him and the MIC a lesson they won't forget. (How wrong was my father?)

Just before the PRU12, another MIC candidate in the same estate reportedly told the Indian voters (alleged supporters of Hindraf) "if you don't like me vote me out". The voters obliged happily and did just that.

Going back to 1969, when I reached KL I saw lot of posters were marked with cow dung and we saw some sort of celebration. (people waving flags - I remember the Gerakan flags) I remember well because I used to read road signs and jot them down in triple five (555) note book I always carried with me. So I jotted down many things the poster said.

We actually went to bring back my sister who was 7 months pregnant. (The Indians custom is to do "valaikappu" when the daughter is seven month pregnant)We brought her back. My brother in law decided come back after a day or two. That is what made us never to forget May 13.

After the riots broke out, he went missing. He was staying in Ayer Panas, Setapak. Can you imagine the worries among the family members? I wasn't sad because the schools declared holiday. The only source of information was the trusty old radio. Later we got the papers. I used to read them for my father. He couldn't read and I usually couldn't understand what I read.
But eventually everything turned out to be ok as my bro-in-law became a refuge in the Merdeka Stadium and returned home much later.