Sg Buloh May 13 cemetery won't be cleared: MPS

The cemetery in Sungai Buloh for victims of the May 13 riots is now better maintained. — SAMUEL ONG/The Star

FAMILIES of the May 13 riot victims buried in a Sungai Buloh cemetery have been assured by the Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) that the burial ground will not be cleared.

This is because the 3,000sq ft area including the burial site was reserved as cemetery land.

Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall chief secretary Tang Ah Chai said MPS officers had met residents living near the cemetery and the families twice to discuss the matter.

They feared that the land was earmarked for a carpark project when illegal land clearing activities were seen going on in the area in March.

MPS issued a stop-work order though it could not identify the culprits as they had fled the scene.

Tan also said that the association and other concerned parties plan to rope in the Selangor government to obtain heritage status for the cemetery.

He added that the state government was assisting its application to the National Heritage Depart-ment for the plot to be gazetted as a site of historical significance.

He said this during a multi-faith public memorial service held for the victims on Saturday that was attended by families of the victims, Subang MP R. Sivarasa and Selayang MP William Leong.

Sivarasa said he had written to Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali to ensure that the state backed the heritage bid by the association.

Leong said it was their duty to ensure the memorial remained as a reminder, so such mistakes and tragedy do not happen again.

Business owner How Swee Ling, 48, said she was relieved the grave would be maintained so her family could continue to visit and pray for her father who was killed in the May 13 riots while he was working in Kampung Baru.

“I believe he would he happy getting so many visitors and to have the area cleaned up nicely.

“Some years when we came for Qing Ming, the weed was tall reaching our heads,” she said.

Car repair garage owner Tay Lian Chin, 48, who lost nine family members including his grandfather, sister and uncles in the riots, said his mother found visiting the cemetery too painful.

So he started visiting the burial ground after her death two years ago.

The cemetery, measuring approximately 30m x 12m – about the size of two badminton courts – has about 110 headstones, most of them engraved with only a name and the date of death.