KUALA LUMPUR SCENES REMINISCENT OF WAR

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31988, 15 May 1969, Page 13

KUALA LUMPUR SCENES REMINISCENT OF WAR

Chinese And Malays Killed In Violent Street Battles (N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) KUALA LUMPUR, May 14. An uneasy calm came to most of Kuala Lumpur today after a terrifying night of burnings and killings which, by unofficial counts, have left at least 50 dead and parts of the city looking as if war had suddenly struck it. Several thousand well-armed police and troops are patrolling the Curfewed streets and in some areas local vigilantes are standing at the entrances to their homes, armed with long iron pipes, bamboo sticks and axes. The official death toll at present is 30, with 144 injured. The police put the number of burned houses at only 19 and of wrecked vehicles at 40, but newspaper correspondents who were given curfew passes early today say they saw at least 30 houses gutted in one district alone, less than a mile from the city centre.

More than 100 cars and trucks, burned and smashed, littered the streets, they said.

Other eye-witnesses report seeing Malays dragged from their vehicles by Chinese, and Malays dragging out Chinese, killing them then and there and burning their vehicles.

Battles ensued throughout the night as gangs of people armed with long knives, poles and, indeed, anything handy, roamed the streets.

The capital’s entire regular police force of 1700, the sth Malay Regiment, the Ist Armoured Reconnaissance Squadron and the Police Field Force worked hard all night to restore calm.

A round-the-clock curfew was imposed on the whole of Selangor State early last evening, and was later extended to parts of Perak and its capital, Ipoh, to the north, to the sensitive island of Penang, and to the nearby mainland province of Wellesley. Kuala Lumpur was under a state of emergency. The Penang curfew was temporarily lifted from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. to allow people to shop when all remained quiet, but Kuala Lumpur residents had no such privilege. The Deputy Prime Minister (Tun Abdul Razak) said late

this morning that the situation “was now under control.”

In a special announcement after meeting leaders of multi-racial good-will committees at his home, Tun Razak said that only minor incidents had been reported this morning: and he appealed to residents nor to be unduly concerned, because security forces were now in control.

He said three teams, led by Tun Tan Siew Sin, Tan Sri Dr Sardon and Mr Khaw Kai Boh (all Ministers in the pre-election Cabinet) would tour Kuala Lumpur today to calm the people. He also urged good-will committee leaders to return to their areas and help to restore order.

Armoured cars patrolled the streets and barbed-wire road-blocks strung across key roads were manned by soldiers with carbines and machine-guns last night

Curfew - breakers were being held in makeshift compounds. The police say they are in command of the situation, but in one area near the home of the Chief Minister of the State of Selangor (Dato Harun Idris), where last night’s troubles began,

the atmosphere is still very tense.

Simmering racial hostility in Kuala Lumpur, with its almost equal numbers of Malays and Chinese, was inflamed during the General Election campaigning, which often touched on racial issues.

Supporters of the Malaydominated Alliance Govern-

ment and the mainly-Chinese Opposition parties have flooded into the capital over the last few days from rural areas.

The Chinese came to celebrate election victories, and the Malays to demand new safeguards for Malay rights; and it became clear early yesterday that trouble was likely.

But the savagery and the extent of the violence, when it broke during the early evening, was totally unexpected.

Passengers arriving at the airport were held there throughout the night, but convoys were being arranged today to ferry tourists back and forth. Fires were still burning in an area just a mile from the city, where Chinese shops and houses verge on the edge of the Malay area of Kampong Bahru.

One report said that "a large number” of dead were expected to be found in Kampong Dato Keramat, a Malay village about two miles from the central city area.

Salleb) has announced the immediate mobilisation of ali police volunteer reserves throughout the country, and has requested employers to release men for duty immediately. As far as is known by the New Zealand High Commission, which has checked staff and known residents, all New Zealanders in Kuala Lumpur kept themselves out of the reach of danger.