Among the film Tanda Putera ’s most outspoken critics is the DAP, which, among others, has held several press conferences to speak out against it. But why?

According to former information minister Zainuddin Maidin, also known as Zam, it was because the party’s logo is prominently displayed in the film’s controversial May 13, 1969 racial riot scene.

“They (DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang and secretary-general Lim Guan Eng) feel guilty and should feel guilty because the symbol was brought to Kampung Baru and Datuk Keramat to chase off the Malays,” he wrote on his blog yesterday.

NONE Recounting the events that day when he was working as an Utusan Melayu reporter, he claimed that he had seen DAP supporters riding into Kampung Baru and Datuk Keramat on the backs of trucks and carrying DAP’s logo, shouting “ Melayu balik kampung! ”

“I ran out from the rally (at Jalan Raja Muda) towards home in Kampung Baru nearby and I saw overturned cars and bodies strewed about. Innocent people had died.

“I cursed. I could not accept such cruelty but saw that Kit Siang and (former Singaporean prime minister) Lee Kuan Yew had sowed the seeds of death. They do not care about the feelings of Malays at all,” he said.

Zainuddin said the film should be watched by all, because it show people of all races who have kept their senses and humanity in midst of the chaos such as the film’s protagonists, like (then) home minister Ismail Abdul Rahman and (then prime minister) Abdul Razak Hussein.

He added that it is no longer possible to chase Malays into villages because its people now occupy cities, holding positions ranging from hawkers to bankers.

The position of Malays would continue to strengthen as the Chinese Malaysians isolate themselves from mainstream society, he said.

“When Razak invited all parties to a truce after the May 13 (riots), DAP did not want to participate in the National Consultative Council.

“They want to be isolated from the mainstream, for the Chinese to continue to be monkeys that want to destroy a million flowers. He will not succeed,” he said.

He was apparently alluding to a Malay idiom ‘ bagai kera mendapat bunga ’ (like a monkey that was given flowers), which refers to a person who does not appreciate being given something valuable.

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