On the night of 18 October 1987, a soldier ran amok with an M16 in the area of Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur. Due to the thorny circumstances of the time and place, his amok triggered a citywide panic and rumours of racial riots. Why did he do it? Why were Malaysians so jittery at the time? And what happened next? “The Big Durian” speaks to 23 Malaysians (some real, some fictional) to find out.