Memali incident a black dot in my political career - Musa

Former deputy prime minister Tun Musa Hitam said the Memali incident which involved the death of four policemen and 14 civilians was a black dot in his political career.

“In all honesty and sincerity, I admit that the Memali incident was a black dot in my political career,” he said in a press statement on Friday.

Musa said although he was not directly involved in the incident, he took full responsibility and accountability over the incident which took place 29 years ago.

He added as the then Home Minister, he had drawn specific lines and instructed the police to follow the process of law to avoid violence and bloodshed.

“But I had left it to the police’s discretion to carry out the operation in fixing the right time and approach to take on for it,” he said.

Musa also clarified that contrary to recent news report, on the day of the incident (November 19, 1985), his boss at that time, former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was in Kuala Lumpur and not in China.

He also stressed that he was not the acting Prime Minister at that time.

Musa said on the day of the incident, he and the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) had met Dr Mahathir at his office where the acting IGP had briefed him on what happened following the death of the four policemen and 14 civilians during the police operation.

“In the meeting I had asked Dr Mahathir to postpone his trip to China as the incident happened in Kedah, his home state, it involved Muslim Malays and by postponing his trip, he will give the perception that he prioritise and cares about domestic issues,” Musa said.

But, despite that, he said, Dr Mahathir chose to go on the China trip.

Musa said he had also informed Dr Mahathir of his intention to table the Memali incident at Parliament which he did on November 20, 1985.

He had also asked all, including local and foreign media to give him a 24 hours time frame, to enable him to get a clearer picture of what had transpired.

In the Memali incident that took place in Kampung Memali, Kedah, hundreds of policemen were injured when police tried to arrest Ibrahim Mahmud or better known as Ibrahim Libya under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for allegedly practising deviant teaching.

Hundreds of his followers were also arrested in the incident in which Musa was blamed on his capacity as the Home Minister.

Musa had stressed that he was not attempting to re-open the Memali incident but had responded to the matter when it was raised at a forum in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, recently.