Half a century has passed since one of the bloodiest chapters in Malaysian history – the race riots of May 13, 1969. Joseph Liow, Tan Kah Kee Chair Professor at the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and RSIS and Tan Jianing, research assistant at the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, NTU, wrote in a commentary that the race riots continue to shape the political narrative as communal-based power play takes on new forms. They added that beneath the “Malaysia, Truly Asia” image of a country that celebrates multiculturalism lies the arid reality of fragile relations between ethnic communities.