I refer to the malaysiakini report Exorcising the ghosts of May 13 .

Finally, there are official documents to back up what I've always believed. I was then a nine-year-old son of an FRU policeman. We lived at the Police Depot at Jalan Gurney, Kuala Lumpur.

Even at my age then, it was clear to me that larger forces were at work in this terrible incident.

From our house in the Depot, we saw fires burning on the first two nights in the Batu Road (Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman) area proof for me that the Chinese were attacked first. It was only on the third night when the fires appeared in a different part of the sky over the Datuk Keramat and Kampung Baru areas.

Anyway, as we grew up, this subject came up many times and it was always clear to most people I met that the Chinese were attacked first.

I was also witness to another phenomenon that backs up an observation in the documents.

Around May 13, the older sons of many of my Malay neighbours were not be seen and they only returned days later. It was all hush-hush but their younger brothers told me that they were asked to assemble at residence of Harun Idris. From the way they behaved when they returned, I was led to believe that they had participated in the riots.

My father spoke harshly of the soldiers too. When the FRU men were sent out, many of the areas they went to had earlier been visited by the soldiers and the residents (or what were left of them) tearfully told stories of how the soldiers joined the Malays in attacking them.

Friends I met years later in Malacca also told me that soldiers had fired into shophouses in Jalan Bunga Raya for no reason. I have heard lots of other anecdotes too. Many Malaysians would have been personally affected by this tragedy. Maybe this would a good time for them to come forward and share their recollections.

The publication of these truths is long overdue. I hope it will lead to the different races of this country becoming more aware of how they are being manipulated to keep a select group of people in power.

So many innocent people died during those tragic days just so that power remained in the hands of the perpetrators. Datuk Harun (and I always believed this was due to divine retribution) never led a happy life after that incident. That fact is well-documented. I'm sure God would have punished the others too, whoever they are.