Dr Mahathir tightens grip
The youngest candidates
DESPITE the resignation of Tun Musa Hitam as Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad steered the Barisan Nasional to a thumping victory.
Dr Mahathir replaced Musa with Tun Ghafar Baba as deputy prime minister while Musa was persuaded to stay on as Umno deputy president.
Musa joined forces with International Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah to form what came to be dubbed as Team B.
In the Umno elections, Dr Mahathir defeated Tengku Razaleigh for the presidency while Ghafar beat Musa to be deputy.
Razaleigh and Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Utama Rais Yatim were dropped from the Cabinet.
Also expelled were Defence Minister Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Welfare Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Ajib Ahmad, and four deputy ministers.
In October 1987, Dr Mahathir used the Internal Security Act to detain 106 people including politicians, social activists and unionists under the Internal Security Act (ISA) Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, at 22, contested on the DAP ticket in 1969 and (current Prime Minister Datuk Seri) Najib Tun Razak was also 22 when he won the Pekan parliamentary seat uncontested in 1976 following the death of his father, the country’s second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak. as well as shut down three newspapers under Operasi Lalang.
Among the detained were Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang and lawyer Karpal Singh, both of DAP.
The official reason for using the ISA was the inflammatory rhetoric on Chinese language issues but critics saw it as a move by Dr Mahathir to strengthen his hold on the party and the Government.
In February 1988, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that Umno was illegal following a suit by 11 Umno members aligned to Razaleigh.
Dr Mahathir acted fast and founded Umno Baru that was quickly accepted into the Barisan fold.
A year later, Tengku Razaleigh formed a breakaway party called Parti Melayu Semangat 46, with Rais as his deputy.