UMNO Started May 13 Riots?
Can students say Umno started May 13 riots?
Malaysiakini, News
Jul 19, 06 4:01pm
Can students in the ethnic relations class argue that it was Umno or Gerakan which caused the May 13, 1969 racial riots?
Can they quote the nation’s first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman who implied that certain elements in Umno were responsible for the incident?
Or can they cite the then Australian deputy high commissioner, WB Prichett, who noted: “...there can be no doubt that Umno was solely responsible for the riots. Its members ran the communal campaign or allowed it to happen.”
These were the questions raised by Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang in response to Higher Education Minister Mustapa Mohamed.
Yesterday, the minister, who defended a contentious book on the ethnic relations subject, said students who disagreed with the contents could debate it during class.
“Is Mustapa serious in suggesting that in the ethnic relations class, students will have full freedom to argue about who started the May 13 riots...?” asked Lim, a veteran DAP leader.
The book published by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) had drawn flak for, among others, blaming DAP for the racial riots and the anti-social attitude of Indian youths as a contributing factor for the 2001 Kg Medan incident.
It also labelled a Chinese lobby group’s call for a non-discriminative affirmative action policy as being ‘extremist’.
Experts and concerned groups warned that the book would burn rather than build bridges among the various communities.
A jinxed post?
Lim also took the higher education minister to task for describing the book as a guidebook and not a textbook.
“It is the height of irresponsibility on Mustapa’s part to try and minimise the gravity of the issue by claiming that it was only a ‘guidebook’ ignoring the fact that it was sold to UPM students since the start of its semester this January for RM9 a copy, or RM6 for a photostated copy,” he said.
On a more sarcastic note, Lim wondered whether the higher education minister post was jinxed.
“Is the post jinxed where the minister easily loses independent judgment, national perspective and sense of right and wrong causing enormous embarrassment to the government, prime minister and nation in international academic circles?” he asked.
According to Lim, Mustapa had made the same mistake in five months which his predecessor Dr Shafie Salleh took more than a year to make - “to defend the utterly indefensible”.
The opposition leader noted that the minister took office with the highest hopes and best wishes from all those concerned about higher education.
“Mustapa should salvage his totally inept handling of the controversy before it is too late,” he warned.
Seditious claim
In a related development, DAP national chairperson Karpal Singh said it was wrong for the minister to insist that the government stood by its stand that the incidents listed in the book were correct.
“Blaming the DAP for the racial riots on May 13, 1969 is not only not factual, but is also clearly seditious,” he added in a statement today.
Karpal also urged the Inspector-General of Police Mohd Bakri Omar to direct one of his officers to file a report on the matter and probe the case.
He said the police must investigate if the book had contravened the Sedition Act.
So, the infamous May 13 racial riots were started and used/quoted frequently by some parties to gain political mileage!
Malaysiakini, News
Jul 19, 06 4:01pm
Can students in the ethnic relations class argue that it was Umno or Gerakan which caused the May 13, 1969 racial riots?
Can they quote the nation’s first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman who implied that certain elements in Umno were responsible for the incident?
Or can they cite the then Australian deputy high commissioner, WB Prichett, who noted: “...there can be no doubt that Umno was solely responsible for the riots. Its members ran the communal campaign or allowed it to happen.”
These were the questions raised by Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang in response to Higher Education Minister Mustapa Mohamed.
Yesterday, the minister, who defended a contentious book on the ethnic relations subject, said students who disagreed with the contents could debate it during class.
“Is Mustapa serious in suggesting that in the ethnic relations class, students will have full freedom to argue about who started the May 13 riots...?” asked Lim, a veteran DAP leader.
The book published by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) had drawn flak for, among others, blaming DAP for the racial riots and the anti-social attitude of Indian youths as a contributing factor for the 2001 Kg Medan incident.
It also labelled a Chinese lobby group’s call for a non-discriminative affirmative action policy as being ‘extremist’.
Experts and concerned groups warned that the book would burn rather than build bridges among the various communities.
A jinxed post?
Lim also took the higher education minister to task for describing the book as a guidebook and not a textbook.
“It is the height of irresponsibility on Mustapa’s part to try and minimise the gravity of the issue by claiming that it was only a ‘guidebook’ ignoring the fact that it was sold to UPM students since the start of its semester this January for RM9 a copy, or RM6 for a photostated copy,” he said.
On a more sarcastic note, Lim wondered whether the higher education minister post was jinxed.
“Is the post jinxed where the minister easily loses independent judgment, national perspective and sense of right and wrong causing enormous embarrassment to the government, prime minister and nation in international academic circles?” he asked.
According to Lim, Mustapa had made the same mistake in five months which his predecessor Dr Shafie Salleh took more than a year to make - “to defend the utterly indefensible”.
The opposition leader noted that the minister took office with the highest hopes and best wishes from all those concerned about higher education.
“Mustapa should salvage his totally inept handling of the controversy before it is too late,” he warned.
Seditious claim
In a related development, DAP national chairperson Karpal Singh said it was wrong for the minister to insist that the government stood by its stand that the incidents listed in the book were correct.
“Blaming the DAP for the racial riots on May 13, 1969 is not only not factual, but is also clearly seditious,” he added in a statement today.
Karpal also urged the Inspector-General of Police Mohd Bakri Omar to direct one of his officers to file a report on the matter and probe the case.
He said the police must investigate if the book had contravened the Sedition Act.
So, the infamous May 13 racial riots were started and used/quoted frequently by some parties to gain political mileage!
posted by locky2ky at 2:58 PM
1 Comments:
What about Dato Harun? Was he in the DAP? It was his thugs who were let loose in KL and then given cover in Kg Bahru. (For all his troubles, he ended his days with a police record for corruption). It was Gerakan's Dr Tan Chee Koon who delayed declaring that he would not support the non-Alliance parties in forming the Govt - so that he could maximum exposure in the local press during the weekend or on a Monday. If he had made the declaration when the decision was made by Gerakan, I do not think the riots would have taken place.
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