Bangkok in smoke
Seeing the news on tv about Bangkok made me very nervous and scared. There was a "sinking" feeling in my heart...fear...anxiety...paranoia...
I have lived through such a near death experience and would never want to go through it ever again.
My personal experience in my town Kuala Lumpur on May 13, 1969.
A cruel soldier fired at me and my grandma, we were inside a first floor classroom looking out from the window of the Imbi Road Chinese Primary school where we had taken refuge, and he just shot at us from 60 or 70 feet away with his rifle. He is a murderer. He has no right to shoot. He should be patrolling to stop rioting and to keep law and order, but instead he was trigger happy just because the Army were in control 'cos of the curfew and Emergency Rule. He was wearing green army uniform, a red scarf covered his face. The bullet missed us but my grandma passed away few days later. Her funeral was hurriedly conducted and relatives could not come because there was a curfew. A few nights earlier another bullet had been fired into the classroom which was aimed at my elder sister's head who was leaning against the window pane. Luckily it missed her head but hit the flourescent lamp on the ceiling. Everyone cowered in deathly fear. The whole village consisting of Chinese people had taken refuge in the school because houses were burnt deliberately by malay rioters. The two bullets have been too much for grandma - scared her to death really. You the soldier who shot at us, all those rioters who killed people and the Mastermind behind May 13 killings - God will surely punish you and your descendants!
40 years have passed by since then, the anger lingers on.....of the injustice suffered.
We narrowly missed death in this building - top floor on the right. Two gunshots on two different days (one was shot at night - target: my elder sis, one was shot during broad daylight - target: my grandma and me. Both missed targets but grandma died of brain haemorrhage.
Thank God for keeping the rest of us safe.
Imbi Road School, my refuge - I will always love and remember you
1Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. (Psalm 1 NIV)
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20 years after May 13, I had my second experience of political rioting, this time in China, now known as the Beijing Tianamen Square Massacre on June 4, 1989. This time around I was very lucky to be evacuated out of China before the army tanks rolled in. I was living in Shanghai and our hotel complex was swarming with the Red Army as they had one Minister put under house arrest in one of the guest houses. The soldiers' rifles with bayonets attached was very intimidating which reminded me of the Japanese army during World War 2. I was so scared their guns would misfire and shoot me accidently. Having escaped death once in May 1969, I was not taking any chances and I did not venture outside my hotel room for a few days.
Our American Office in Beijing received some "wind" and issued directive to all staff and family to evacuate before the week-end. Their "wind" was that the military was moving in to crush the rebellion. There was no more air tickets available and there was a long waiting list but we were given priority on top of the wait list as we had a very young child. China Airlines released two first class tickets reserved for the Chinese Communist Party Officials to us at the last minute as no Official was travelling that morning. Lucky...get to travel first class to Hong Kong. So I escaped the chaos and was safely home when the massacre started. Long live me!
Dead civilians in Tianamen Square
My poor health and heart condition today cannot cope with anymore turbulence in my life. I want World Peace. World Peace. World Peace. Mighty God, please..please..please....World peace.
PEACE IN MALAYSIA PLEASE.
Read about May 13, 1969 racial riots in Malaysia and survivors' stories here: click
A deserted street in Kuala Lumpur where chinese were killed in cold blood in May 1969. This area was previously known as "Kampung Baru"; was a place where the rich Chinese business community resided. (Example: Mr Loke Yew (1845-1917) lived here in his "Loke mansion" at Jalan Medan Tuanku until he died of malaria.)
Kampung Baru was the first targeted area of massacre where Chinese people were slashed to death by malay rioters and their corpses thrown into the Klang river which flows nearby. Before the killings started malay people were evacuated out by trucks purportedly by the Army. I had relatives who lived here and they escaped from being hacked to death by jumping into the Klang river to hide throughout the night till morning. They saw dead bloodied bodies floating down the river. However their immediate neighbour and his family perished - killed! The neighbour could not run to the river because of their elderly parents whose movements were not so agile, so they had no choice but to stay inside their house thinking it would be safe but no one could believe the cruel brutal violence of the attackers. All the houses were looted and emptied. My relatives later shifted out of the area. A lot of houses became derelict because owners and whole families were slaughtered - no heirs to claim ownership. These abandoned houses later became drug addicts den. I wonder who took over their land titles now. I have avoided this area of doom since 1969, but recently I took a trip down memory lane to this "Kampung Baru" which is Jalan Yap Ah Shak, Jalan Kamunting, Jalan Doraisamy. I saw hotels, clubs, pubs and cafes which sprouted some nightlife, but I also saw in my mind's eye all those lost souls who perished in that racial bloodbath of Tuesday night of May 13, 1969....wandering ghosts...R.I.P. now.
Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. (Luke 23:34 NIV)..
