#memali

New Post has been published on http://bm.therakyatpost.com/berita/2014/04/10/tun-mahathir-jawab-kenyataan-tun-musa/

Tun Mahathir jawab kenyataan Tun Musa

Kuala Lumpur, 10 April

Bekas Perdana Menteri, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad berkata beliau tidak mengingati sebarang nasihat Tun Musa Hitam supaya beliau tidak pergi ke luar negara, ketika berlakunya Peristiwa Memali.

“Saya tidak ingat yang Tun Musa datang berjumpa saya untuk saya tidak pergi ke Beijing tetapi beliau berada di lapangan terbang bersama dengan orang lain yang ingin ucap selamat saya ke China.

“Peristiwa Memali berlaku pada 19 November 1985, sehari sebelum saya terbang,” tulis Tun Mahathir di laman blognya, chedet.cc.

Katanya, beliau dijadualkan berlepas ke China sehari selepas kejadian Memali bagi mengetuai satu rombongan swasta yang bertujuan untuk membina hubungan dagang dengan Beijing.

Sebelum ini, Tun Musa Hitam dalam kenyataannya berkata beliau menemui Tun Mahathir pada hari kejadian bagi memaklumkan kejadian yang berlaku.

Beliau berkata, dalam pertemuannya bersama Tun Mahathir menasihatinya supaya menangguhkan program lawatan ke  luar negara.

Mengulas dakwaan berkenaan, Tun Mahathir dalam tulisan  meluahkan rasa keyakinan terhadap Tun Musa yang memegang jawatan Timbalan Perdana Menteri ketika itu untuk mengawal keadaan.

“Saya begitu yakin yang Timbalan Perdana Menteri dapat menangani keadaan sehingga saya melantik beliau sebagai Pemangku Perdana Menteri.”

New Post has been published on http://www.therakyatpost.com/news/2014/04/10/musa-admitted-memali-was-his-responsibility-says-mahathir/

Musa admitted Memali was his responsibility, says Mahathir

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today wrote in his blog chedet.cc on the Memali incident in 1995. Here is a reproduction of his blog posting:

1. During my time as Prime Minister, both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister were jointly responsible for national security.

2. At times, I held the post of Defence Minister while the Deputy Prime Minister is the Home Minister responsible for the police. At times as Prime Minister when I decided to assume the Home Minister portfolio, the Deputy Prime Minister would be appointed Defence Minister. There were only on a few occasions, when the situation demanded it, ordinary ministers were appointed to the defence portfolio. This is because the issue of national security is of great importance.

3. On Nov 20, 1985, I led a massive private sector delegation to China because I believed there were abundant trade opportunities with China, which had then only opened up to external trade participation.

4. I cannot recall Tun Musa (Hitam) coming up to me to ask me not to go to Beijing but he was, with many others, at the airport, to wish me well on my trip to China. Even at that time I cannot recall if he (Musa) had advised me against going abroad.

5. The Memali incident took place on Nov 19, 1985, a day before I left. In a police operation such as this, a tragedy could happen. In this case, four policemen and 16 criminals were killed. Quite a number were wounded.

6. I was very confident in the ability of the Deputy Prime Minister to handle the situation that I appointed him as Acting Prime Minister. It was he who replied to YB Gooi Hock Seng (Bukit Bendera) in the Dewan Rakyat on Nov 20, 1985. YB Gooi had asked for a postponement of the Dewan Rakyat to discuss, the “Perintah Berkurung akibat Pembunuhan di Baling, Kedah” (Imposition of curfew due to the killings in Baling, Kedah) — (Handsard).

7. I returned home on Nov 28, 1985. When I was abroad, there were no incidents that could not be handled by the Deputy Prime Minister, who was then the Acting Prime Minister.

8. Each portfolio came with its own set of responsibilities. In dealing with crimes, the responsibility was with the police. In terms of making a decision when there is a major threat to national security, the minister is responsible, at least in endorsing the action to be taken.

9. Tun Musa admitted that it was his responsibility. In the system of Cabinet that we practise, all Cabinet members, especially the Prime Minister, bear responsibility.

10. I don’t believe Musa foresaw the loss of lives resulting from his decision. As he had said in his reply to YB Tuan Gooi Hock Seng, “it is the duty and responsibility of the government to ensure that security of the country exists at all times for the welfare of its citizens and for the overall stability of the country. This, the government will not compromise…”

11. The issue with regards to me not being in Malaysia when the incident occurred was not spread by me. I did not mention this at all in my book. What is publicly known is that Datuk Musa Hitam was the Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister at that time. The Inspector General of Police discussed and reported to him as the Home Minister. The Home Minister is also involved in making the decision on actions that needed to be taken. It is surely unbecoming if when things were going well, only then one admits to the responsibility.

12. It has to be remembered that the policemen were killed before they returned fire. It is very unfortunate that while the deaths of Ibrahim and his followers are remembered and they were even declared as martyrs, the deaths of the members of the security forces are forgotten.

New Post has been published on http://www.therakyatpost.com/business/2014/04/09/opposition-wants-white-paper-on-memali-withdrawn/

Opposition wants White Paper on Memali withdrawn

By Sean Augustin

KUALA LUMPUR, April 9:

Opposition members of parliament are demanding that the White Paper tabled on the Memali incident be withdrawn following recent revelations made by Tun Musa Hitam.

The former Deputy Prime Minister had in 1985 tabled the document a day after the bloody incident, which saw 14 civilians, including Ibrahim Libya and two policemen, killed in Kedah.

Ibrahim was a religious preacher who ran a religious school and was accused of deviant teachings. The incident also led to the detention of 36 people under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

Musa had two weeks ago declared that then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was in the country when the incident occurred 29 years ago, despite past media reports stating that the latter was in China.

Dr Mahathir has since said he needed to double check his facts before commenting further on the matter .

“The White Paper, which was tabled in this house, should be retracted as there were lies in the report and the house had been misled,” PAS Information Chief Datuk Mahfuz Omar said this evening.

The Pokok Sena member of parliament had earlier tabled an emergency motion under Standing Order 18 to discuss the matter.

Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, however, rejected the motion in chambers claiming that the motion was based on information from a “forum and news reports”.

Mahfuz went on to say that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should not be afraid to take on Dr Mahathir and set the record straight.

New Post has been published on http://www.therakyatpost.com/news/2014/03/31/musa-keeping-mum-for-now-on-fresh-memali-claim/

Musa keeping mum for now on fresh Memali claim

By Farah Harith

KUALA LUMPUR, March 31:

Tun Musa Hitam has refused to comment further on his revelation that former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was in the country during and two to three days after the 1985 Memali incident.

The Rakyat Post called the former Deputy Prime Minister today to seek for clarification after checks with the New Straits Times (NST) archive found a photo of Musa sending Dr Mahathir off at the airport on Nov 20, 1985.

The caption on the photo said that Dr Mahathir was going off to China.

Musa admitted he had been receiving many calls from people seeking for his comments. He said, however, he would be issuing a statement soon, and not just yet.

Last Thursday, Musa had alleged at a political forum in Kota Bharu that Dr Mahathir was in Kuala Lumpur and “continued to stay two to three days” in the city after the 1985 incident.

Previously, it was reported that Dr Mahathir had been in China at the time, leading a delegation there after the country established diplomatic relations with the republic years before that.

In an earlier report, The Rakyat Post managed to get hold of one of the delegation members of the 1985 China trip. The delegation member, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he remembered the trip although not the exact date as it was almost 30 years ago, but confirmed Dr Mahathir was present.

Several newspaper articles found in online archives also placed Dr Mahathir in China during the period Musa claimed the former was in Kuala Lumpur.

The Singapore Straits Times, on Nov 20, 1985, carried an article from Bernama titled “Mahathir to call on Zhao today”, referring to Zhao Ziyang, the Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China.

Several figures have called for the Memali incident to be reinvestigated, with DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang asking for royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to be set up, following Musa’s recent claim.

Today, PAS Information Chief Datuk Mahfuz Omar called for fresh investigation, saying that Musa’s claim had given the picture of a conspiracy that was carried out very discreetly.

New Post has been published on http://www.therakyatpost.com/news/2014/03/31/mahfuz-wants-new-probe-into-memali-incident/

Mahfuz wants new probe into Memali incident

By Sean Augustin

KUALA LUMPUR, March 31:

PAS Information Chief Datuk Mahfuz Omar is calling for the Memali incident to be re-investigated following recent revelations made by a former Deputy Prime Minister.

Tun Musa Hitam had claimed 3 days ago that former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was in Malaysia when the 1985 clash between police and followers of Ibrahim Mahmud, also known as Ibrahim Libya, took place.

It was previously reported that Dr Mahathir was in China for a visit and that Musa took charge as the Home Minister.

Mahfuz said that Musa’s claim had given the picture that the Memali incident, that left 14 civilians and 4 policemen dead, was a conspiracy carried out very discreetly.

“The script was there and the government must explain,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby this morning.

Yesterday, DAP‘s veteran politician Lim Kit Siang called for the formation of a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) over the “bloody” Memali incident, following Musa’s revelation.

In his blog posting, the DAP adviser said that Musa “laid bare one of the nation’s longest-kept secrets”, when he revealed that Dr Mahathir was in the country during the incident 29 years ago and continued to be in the country “3 to 3 days after the incident”.

However, The Rakyat Post earlier found in Lim’s archive, a copy of his speech text dated Nov 19, 1985, given during a send-off dinner for then DAP deputy secretary-general and Kuala Lumpur Member of Parliament Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, who was one of those in Dr Mahathir’s delegation to China.

“Tomorrow, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamed, will be leading a 250-strong delegation to China, the third Malaysian Prime Minister to visit China after the establishment of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and the People’s Republic of China 11 years ago,” Lim’s 29-year-old speech began.

Meanwhile, Mahfuz today also said the “white paper” (authoritative report) on the incident that was tabled in 1986 was now suspect.

Mahfuz also called for the fatwa (religious edict) made by the National Fatwa Council that Ibrahim and his followers death were branded as traitors to be withdrawn.

The fatwa, he argued, tarnished their reputation.

Mahfuz’s colleague, Dr Mohd Hatta Ramli (PAS-Kuala Krai), meanwhile said the party wanted justice for the victims.

On Dr Mahathir’s response that he forgot whether he was around, Hatta alluded to a poem penned by the country’s premier: “Well he did say Malays forget easily.”

Earlier, The Rakyat Post reported that a check on the Malaysian New Straits Times (NST) archives found 3 photographs that would require Musa to further clarify his “revelation”.

In one of the photos dated, Nov 20, 1985, Dr Mahathir was seen standing next to Musa, and the photo was captioned as: “Datuk Musa Hitam and Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad smile as seven-year-old Putri Mohamed Noh comes up to bid the Prime Minister farewell at the Subang Airport. The Prime Minister is leaving for China for a nine-day official visit”.

The NST photo is proof that Dr Mahathir left for China the next day and it would not have been possible for him to have continued to be in Kuala Lumpur 3 to 3 days after the Memali incident, as alleged by Musa.