The Friends of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Heritage Association (Pesawa) said it intends to hold discussions on having the cemetery designated as a national heritage site.

Pesawa secretary Law Jing said the group plans to hold annual memorial ceremonies and educational talks aimed at fostering mutual understanding and reconciliation among Malaysians.

Law said recognition of the site followed four years of efforts, after concerns that it might be converted into a car park.

The association said in a statement that the Gombak land and district office had confirmed their appointment in a letter on Friday (Nov 22), which stated that the state government had gazetted the site, in Batu, Gombak, as a non-Muslim cemetery on Sept 5.

The decision to gazette the site comes 55 years after the racial riots of May 13, 1969 in which hundreds are believed to have been killed.

The cemetery is located behind Masjid Jamek Ibnu Sina and near Sungai Buloh Hospital. It contains 102 headstones, the majority of which belong to Chinese victims of the racial riots.

“This is the site which was featured in a movie by Chong Kean Aun. The other burial site is located in Setapak,” he said, referring to Tanah Perkuburan Islam Tamban Ibukota, a Muslim burial site where 12 victims of the May 13 incident are buried.

Law said Pesawa plans to meet with officials about two Muslim graves at the Sungai Buloh site.