DPM: We can set up RCI over Memali
‘Victims and their loved ones were denied rights’
TAIPING: The Government is ready to set up a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to probe the Memali tragedy in 1985 if there is demand for it, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
“I will personally study all the reports on the incident,” he said when opening the Bukit Gantang Umno division delegates conference here yesterday.
Dr Ahmad Zahid, who is also an Umno vice-president, said in upholding the law, all should set aside their differences.
In the Memali incident on Nov 19 that year, 18 people, among them four policemen, were killed and many others injured after police launched an operation to arrest religious teacher Ibrahim Mahmud, known as “Ibrahim Libya”.
Dr Ahmad Zahid said former deputy prime minister Tun Musa Hitam, in his book Frankly Speaking, stated he was instructed to eliminate Kampung Memali over elements of violence and militancy committed by PAS leaders.
In this regard, Dr Ahmad Zahid said the leader who said he was not in the country on the day of the incident needed to admit that he was indeed in the country at the time.
“The Memali incident happened over two decades ago, but we have to keep in mind that the victims, families and children were denied their rights,” he said.
Dr Ahmad Zahid, who was earlier speaking to reporters after opening the Teluk Intan Umno division meeting, said police did not rule out the possibility of a hired killer being involved in the murder of a Bukit Aman officer at a house in Changlun, Kedah on Friday.
He said police believe that a for- eign shooter might have been hired by a local triad.
“Although it is possible that a foreign hired gun was involved, we will find, arrest and drag him to court via Mutual Legal Assistance and information sharing by our intelligence,” he said.
Dr Ahmad Zahid said the Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department and Kedah police chief Datuk Asri Yusoff had updated him with information on the case.
In the 10.25pm incident, SubInspector Abu Hashim Ismail, 54, who was attached to the Bukit Aman CID, died on the spot after he was shot six times, four times in the back.
Police have so far detained three men to facilitate investigations into the killing, including a 35-year-old who was being remanded for a week from yesterday. — Bernama