For Dr Afif Bahardin, the date May 13 will always be unforgettable - but not because it was a dark day of the country’s bloody racial riots way back in 1969.

It is for a more pleasant reason - the Seberang Jaya assemblyman celebrated his 30th birthday at the Penang legislative assembly yesterday.

Asked how he felt about being born on May 13, Afif ( photo ) said he noticed the controversial incident was not being used as often as it was before the 2008 national polls merely to advance some quarters' political agenda.

March 2008 is another historical date in Malaysia when Pakatan Rakyat won five states, including Penang which had been held by BN - and earlier by the Alliance - since independence in 1957

“People are now more interested in the policies and the principles of the government or political parties,” the state executive council member told Malaysiakini.

“Questions surrounding what happened, who ordered the killings are side stories […] the gist of what happened after the May 13 riots is what we need to celebrate and this includes the Rukun Negara,” said the PKR national deputy youth chief.

“We should study and practice the real principles of the Rukun Negara so that we can live in harmony in this country,” he added.

May 13 is also an unforgettable date for Sungai Dua Umno assemblyperson Mohd Yusoff Mohd Noor  as he celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary yesterday.

Bogeyman is gone forever

He chose May 13 as it was “a good day”, saying that despite the racial riots, the country had taken steps to forge a multiracial society after that fateful incident.

“The word muhibah is more significantly used and Barisan Nasional, a component of 14 parties representing all races, was born in 1974,” he said when met at the state assembly.

Together with him was Pulau Betong Umno assemblyperson Mohamed Farid Saad who said May 13 was a day to remember so that “we would not repeat the incident in the future”.

“The incident was followed by efforts to unite the nation, this we must remember. Relationship between the races is like an onion skin, it is sensitive but we need to move on as there is no other way to move forward,” he observed.

DAP’s Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim ( photo ), who celebrated his 33th birthday yesterday has a philosophical view about the day, saying the May 13 'bogeyman' has now lost his power.

“True, it was Nazi propaganda chief Goebbels who said that if you repeat a lie long enough it becomes truth but people also become desensitised over time,” Sim said.

“There's an older wisdom, from Aesop's time, that if you cry 'wolf' often enough, people will no longer take you seriously,” he pointed out..

“Today's younger generation has a better perspective of the world through various channels not least social media. You don't feed a lie so easily, it's just too hard to control,” he stressed.

A new vision for Malaysia

Sim said with the proliferation of new media, the hegemonic condition which the French thinker Jacques Ellul said to be an essential ingredient for propaganda was no longer there.

In other words, the world has changed and the May 13 bogeyman is no longer a viable policy option today, Sim opined.

He said Pakatan Rakyat has offered a counter-vision for Malaysia; one in which the ghost of May 13 is no longer in the picture

“Not because we ignore it but rather because in this new vision of Malaysia, the conditions for May 13 - inequality, injustice, extremism, lack of respect for democracy and law - are removed,” he said.

“In its place, we want a Malaysia which works for all Malaysians, one where the poor are empowered and justice is served to all and where the people live in peace because they know their fate is inextricably bound together with one nation, Malaysia.”