2001 Kampung Medan riots

The 2001 Kampung Medan riots is a sectarian violence between the Indian and Malay that initially began in a small village of Kampung Medan located in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. The riot then further escalated and spread all the way through Kampung Gandhi, Kampung Lindungan , Kampung Datuk Harun, Taman Desa Ria and the surrounding of Jalan Klang Lama. The racial crisis then spread all the way through Petaling Jaya, Jalan Gasing, Kelana Jaya, Sungai Way, Bandar Sunway and Puchong. The riot started from 4 March until 13 March 2001. Photographs in Malaysiakini's possession are gruesome evidence of the extensive hurt, both physical and emotional, inflicted by the clashes. The three weeks of tension resulted in the deaths of 6 people, and left over a hundred people with severe wounds, ranging from head injuries, broken bones, to slashes and hacked off limbs. Four hundred people were detained.

The residents of Kampung Medan are 70% Malay, 20% Indian and 10% Chinese. The Malays live in low-cost flats and houses. The Chinese are scattered, while the Indians live in longhouses and squatter settlements. Police have admitted they neglected the areas, which had achieved notoriety for gangster activity, drug addiction, juvenile delinquency, fights and even incest. Violence has been a way of life and over the last three years, there have been no fewer than 40 cases of violence involving the squatters and those living in the vicinity. In incidents over the past few days, the villagers have blamed outsiders for the violence.

The riot between the two groups initiated in Kampung Medan from a wedding and funeral. The wedding ceremony was held by a Malay family in their house, at the same time, their Indian neighbours were having their funeral ceremony.

An Indian security guard on the way back from work at 3 a.m. on March 4. He found a tent erected in the middle of the narrow road in Kampung Medan, of Jalan Klang Lama, for a wedding. He became agitated and started kicking the tables and chairs. His action angered the Malay family that was preparing for the wedding, and they rushed out to beat him up. The security guard fled and returned later with a parang and five other cohorts. A fight broke out. He ran towards an Indian house, a few hundred metres away, presumably for refuge where a wake was being held, contrary to earlier reports that the fight started because the funeral procession was blocked by the tent. The group of Malays, who thought he was a member of the household, then set fire to a car and two motorcycles. But the spark came four days later when fights broke out after Indian children playing with catapults broke a van windscreen.

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Wikipedia