PAS suggests Dr M visit Kampung Memali

KOTA BHARU: PAS claimed yesterday that it had met with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) several times to propose that PPBM chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad visit Kampung Memali in Baling, Kedah, to eliminate any prejudice and anger of the villagers over the Memali incident.

Its secretary-general, Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan, said that after the matter was raised with PPBM deputy president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir to be conveyed to his father, there was no response from Dr Mahathir.

“There was no reaction from Dr Mahathir until it was raised again by several individuals at the Nothing to Hide 2.0 forum in Shah Alam, Selangor, recently (last Sunday),” he said to reporters here. Takiyuddin, who is the MP for Kota Bharu, said the fracas at the forum could have been averted and many issues could be resolved if Dr Mahathir had made the visit to Kampung Memali.

"Although it is an old case, it is bound to crop up now and again until it is resolved,” he said.

He said PAS had all along proposed to the federal government to conduct an inquest into the tragedy. What has come to be known as the Memali incident was a police operation on Nov 19, 1985, to capture a religious teacher, Ibrahim Mahmud, better known as Ibrahim Libya, in Kampung Memali, Kedah, in the face of resistance that resulted in the deaths of 18 people, four of them policemen.