Phillip Kee was in his early 20s when horrendous violence suddenly erupted in his home city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1969. The infamous ‘May 13th incident’ exploded after the ruling party lost seats in a general election and Chinese political groups made gains. In the ensuing days, hundreds of people – mostly Chinese - were killed after a shoot-to-kill order was given by police chiefs and a 24-hour curfew was imposed during a state of emergency. Many innocent people were killed while standing in their doorways or gardens. 

Phillip, 79, who attends the Re-engage tea parties in Waltham Forest, quickly realised he should leave the country due to the unrest. It was an incredibly frightening time,” he said. Phillip, who lives in Walthamstow with partner, Bill Hopkinson added. “The curfew lasted for a week and no one dared to go out. It was even too dangerous to look out of your window in case the police saw you, because they would shoot. We were even too scared to talk about what was going on it was so terrifying. But later I found out a village near ours had been badly affected. I just knew I had to get out of the country. I didn’t want to stay where something like this was happening.”

Phillip, who was then a sales representative and from a family of nine children, had been saving for three years to follow his dream of a nursing career in Europe. He left for the UK with the help of a friend who had a flat in London and attended the Nightingale Training School at St Thomas’ Hospital in London.

“The Chinese population in Malaysia are very peaceful, non-political people who just want to earn a living and enjoy life,” he added. “I was happy there until the riots. My family stayed on and thankfully were not harmed.”

Bill, 76, a retired professor of education who is also a Rainbow Call Companion for Re-engage, attends the tea parties with Phillip, and is trying to start a new group in Newham, East London.

“There’s not much going on in the area for those aged 75 and over,” he said. “Going to the Re-engage tea parties has spurred us into thinking of what else we could do.

“The tea parties are excellent for social interaction. We went to one recently and the people had a really, really good time. It’s important for older people to get out of the house and being picked up by car makes them feel special.”

Phillip and Bill have started an LGBT seniors group which meets twice a month in Stratford Library. They also holiday with one of our corporate partners, Alfa Travel, which specialises in trips for people aged 65 and over. “I think over the years we have been to all of their hotels,” added Bill.