
The 13 May 1969 incident was the Sino-Malay sectarian violence that took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on that date in 1969. The riot occurred in the aftermath of the 1969 Malaysian general election when opposition parties made gains at the expense of the ruling coalition, the Alliance Party. Official reports put the number of deaths due to the riots at 196, although Western diplomatic sources at the time suggested a toll of close to 600, with most of the victims Chinese. The racial riots led to a declaration of a state of national emergency or Darurat by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong resulting in the suspension of the Parliament by the Malaysian government, while the National Operations Council (NOC), also known as the Majlis Gerakan Negara (MAGERAN), was established as a caretaker government to temporarily govern the country between 1969 and 1971.

Political arrests was carried out between 1990 and 1991 to crack down on opposition leaders in Sabah, Malaysia, and their alleged plans to secede the state from Malaysia, allegedly known as Operation Talkak. Seven men were detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA). All seven men were leaders or prominent members the Kadazan Cultural Association (KCA), Institute for Development Studies (IDS), Sabah Foundation, and opposition party Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), and were placed under two-year detention orders.

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 Cobbold Commission, was a Commission of Enquiry set up to determine whether the people of North Borneo and Sarawak supported the proposal to create the Federation of Malaysia consisting of Malaya, Brunei, Singapore, North Borneo, and Sarawak. It was also responsible for the subsequent drafting of the Constitution of Malaysia prior to the formation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963. The Commission was headed by former Bank of England governor, Lord Cobbold.

The Greater Malayan Confederation, or Maphilindo, was a proposed, nonpolitical confederation of the three Southeast Asian countries.

The Memali Incident or code-named as Operasi Angkara and Operasi Hapus was a major incident that occurred in the remote village of Kampung Memali, Baling in the Malaysian state of Kedah on 19 November 1985.

Operation Lalang is a major crackdown carried out beginning 27 October 1987 by the Royal Malaysian Police, ostensibly to prevent the occurrence of racial riots in Malaysia. The operation saw the arrest of 106 to 119 people – NGO activists, opposition politicians, intellectuals, students, artists, scientists and others – who were detained without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA). It was the second largest ISA swoop in Malaysian history since the 13 May riots. It also involved the revoking of the publishing licenses of two dailies, The Star and the Sin Chew Jit Poh and two weeklies, The Sunday Star and Watan.