The Ethnic Riots of July 1964. MALAYSIA

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Kimberly Wong Kristen

05A23

History Specimen Paper 2002

The Ethnic Riots of July 1964.

The situation at that period of time had already been very poor, and there were many different contributing factors that led to the build up and explosion of the ethnic riots. Till this day, there are still many disputes to the cause of the ethnic riots in 1964 and thus it is not necessarily true that UMNO was responsible for the outbreak of ethnic riots in 1964. However, this is an issue that may never be completely settled as it is extremely controversial. The Federal Government of Malaysia, dominated UMNO feared that as long as Singapore remained in the Federation, the policy of positive racial discrimination to the Malays would be undermined and therefore not in the interest of their pro-Malay agenda. Furthermore, we know that UMNO was using the Utasan Melayu to create tension and stir up trouble against the Singapore government. Thus, there is also evidence to challenge the statement that UMNO was not responsible for the ethnic riots.

Some sources claim that it was a build up of factors such as the circumstances during that period of time