Witness to the incident
Villagers, unhappy over Dr Mahathir’s ‘mati katak’ remark
Most of us are not angry with the government... when it comes to the Memali tragedy it was the fault of one man named Mahathir.”
“WE are sad. Why does he have to reopen an old wound and what is the need to bring up the incident for this election?”
That is the sentiment of those involved in the Memali incident 33 years ago.
Their reaction came about after Langkawi candidate Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad claimed that the 14 people who were killed in the tragedy in 1985 did not die as martyrs, but rather in vain (mati katak).
Clearly, they were upset that the Memali tragedy had been used as an opposition pact’s political campaign.
Zaman Mahmud, a former student of the late Ibrahim Mahmud, or Ibrahim Libya, said after they heard what Dr Mahathir said, an air of sadness suddenly descended upon the village.
“Why must Dr Mahathir bring up the tragedy and why use such harsh words?
“Mati katak is too harsh. Life in Memali is calm now. Even those of us in Pas do not wish to dig up old wounds, so why is Dr Mahathir doing it?” said the 65-yearold.
“To be honest, most of us are not angry with the government because for us, when it comes to the Memali tragedy, it was the fault of one man named Dr Mahathir,” he said.
Zaman, who was also in the house where Ibrahim Libya was killed, said the remark made by Dr Mahathir could lead to tension in the village.
Another former student of Ibrahim Libya, Zakaria Abdul Rahman, said those in Parti Amanah Negara (PAN) should remain with their stand, which was to fight for Memali victims to be recognised as martyrs.
“But right now, it appears they have no stand. We are very angry when people like Mat Sabu (PAN president Mohamad Sabu) took to apologising to Dr Mahathir on behalf of former Pas leaders on the Memali issue.
“Who are they to apologise when people in Memali have still not been given the right to prove who is at fault, and to uncover the actual cause behind what happened. We want to respond to Dr Mahathir’s allegations.
“Alleging that our teachers and fathers died in vain is rude and cannot be forgiven. Don’t bring this up again because we want to live in peace,” he said.
Observation by NSTP reporters in Memali found that the village was, in fact, calm.
But tension was apparent on the faces of a small group of people near Ibrahim Libya’s old house.
The reporters were reminded not to raise the Memali issue again because it was a sensitive matter, not just to the older generation, but also to the children and grandchildren.
After much backlash, Dr Mahathir, in a video posting yesterday, apologised for saying that the 14 in Memali had died in vain.
He claimed it was a slip of the tongue when, during a ceramah in Lembah Pantai, Kuala Lumpur, he had used the term mati katak and not mati syahid death).