Ibrahim Libya’s widow welcomes RCI
BALING: Soleha Husin, the widow of slain religious preacher Ibrahim Mahmud in the Memali incident, remains a broken woman three decades after his death.
Soleha, 65, said she had waited half her life for the truth behind the bloodshed that also killed 13 other Memali villagers in 1985.
On Sunday, her hope was raised when Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced that the government was ready to form a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to investigate the incident.
She hoped that it would be set up so that the public would learn the “truth” about the incident.
She also hoped that the RCI would give justice to her husband and others killed on that day.
Soleha said she remembered cradling her husband in her lap before he died from gunshot wounds at their house.
She also remembered how the villagers who tried to prevent her husband from being arrested by police were treated like criminals.
“They were all rubber tappers who rushed to help my husband that morning when they heard news that police would arrest him.
“I still have in my mind the sight of blood in front of our house and on the road, where one villager was shot dead by police,” she told the New Straits Times at her house in Kampung Charok Putih Siong here, where the incident occurred on Nov 19, 1985.
Soleha said after the incident, many people had looked down on her family and some would regard her husband, better known as Ibrahim Libya, a criminal.
She said her husband was
teaching religious classes to the villagers, but was accused of propagating deviationist teachings.
She said when her five children heard the news about a possible RCI on the Memali incident, they were pleased.
“My children were young when the incident occurred. None of them were at home when their father was gunned down.”
Soleha, like many other Memali folks, had yet to forgive former prime minster Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for the incident.
She said many people had visited her family as they wanted to know the real story.
“Everyone was wondering why police had taken such an action, which cost the lives of innocent people.” As for Abdullah Che Soh, 71, he still bears seven scars from gunshot wounds on his body that will always remind him of the incident.
The rubber tapper was among a group of men who had stood firmly in front of Ibrahim’s house to stop police from arresting the latter.
“We were armed with parang and pieces of wood, but only waved at the police to stop them from coming closer to the house.
“I was shot seven times, four of them hit my chest, two on my hands and one on my left waist.”
Not only Abdullah, his two sons, Abdul Fatah, 45, and Abdul Rashid, 43, were also at Ibrahim’s house.
Abdullah’s wife, Kalsom Salim, 67, and their three daughters, Noriah, 47, Siti Fatimah, 37, and Norhidayah, 34, stood guard at a blockade that the villagers had erected to prevent police from going to the house.
“At the time, our children were aged between 2 and 15, but we stood our ground because we were innocent.
“What saddened me the most was when we were treated like communist insurgents.”
Abdullah hoped that the RCI would shed more light on the incident and why such an action was taken by police.