Ops Lalang forum doubtful

No one is able to confirm if event will be held or scrapped

GEORGE TOWN: With the Ops Lalang 30th anniversary forum – which Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was supposed to attend – postponed indefinitely, no one is saying if it will ever be held.

“Because of the incident in Tanjung Bungah and because of the accident in Juru, we decided to postpone the forum and dinner to another date which we will announce later,” said state DAP exco member Jagdeep Singh Deo in a recent press conference.

Jagdeep was referring to the Tanjung Bungah landslide that killed 11 people on Oct 21 and the bus crash three days later which killed eight.

The forum and dinner was organised by the Penang government and panellists were to have included Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu and Pakatan Harapan legal bureau chief Gobind Singh Deo.

A day before the Tanjung Bungah landslide on Oct 21, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng told reporters the state wanted to invite Dr Mahathir, “but he had another function so he cannot make it”.

The event was to mark the 30th anniversary of the nationwide sweep which saw 106 people detained without trial under the then Internal Security Act (ISA) on suspicion of causing political or racial instability on Oct 27, 1987.

Several former ISA detainees were invited to attend and would have come face-to-face with Dr Mahathir, who signed their detention orders as the then Home Minister.

Social activist and former detainee Meenakshi Raman knew the event was postponed, but admitted that she was “not really keen about the forum”.

“Let’s cross the bridge when we come to it,” she said, adding that she will see if the event is organised again.

Other former detainees contacted declined to express their thoughts on the forum.