Dr Mahathir mengaku berada di tanah air ketika tragedi Memali berlaku...
Namun, beliau berkata dia tidak ingat Tun Musa Hitam, Timbalan Perdana Menteri dan Menteri Keselamatan Dalam Negeri ketika itu, datang memujuknya agar tidak pergi ke Beijing.
"Saya tidak ingat yang Tun Musa datang berjumpa saya untuk tidak pergi ke Beijing tetapi beliau berada di lapangan terbang bersama dengan ramai orang yang ingin ucap selamat pemergian saya ke China.
“Waktu itu pun saya tidak ingat yang Tun Musa menasihat supaya saya tidak pergi luar negara," kata Dr Mahathir dalam blognya hari ini.
Dr Mahathir juga cuba meletakkan kesalahan ini kepada Musa dengan berkata, "Tun Musa akui beliau bertanggungjawab”.
"Dalam sistem kabinet yang kita amalkan semua anggota kabinet, terutama Perdana Menteri bertanggungjawab," kata Dr Mahathir dalam blognya.
Baru-baru ini, Musa mendedahkan di Kota Baru, Dr Mahathir berada di Kuala Lumpur ketika peristiwa Memali berlaku.
Selepas itu, Musa juga membuat kenyataan bertulis mempertahankan kenyataan itu dengan berkata, dia bersama Pemangku Ketua Polis Negara ketika itu memberi taklimat kepada Dr Mahathir pada hari kejadian.
Musa menegaskan dalam kenyataan itu, dia bukan pemangku perdana menteri ketika itu kerana Dr Mahathir masih berada dalam negara.
Ia bertentangan sekali dengan catatan sejarah yang dibuat pelbagai pihak termasuk ensiklopedia bebas, Wikipedia, yang merekodkan Dr Mahathir berada di China ketika kejadian itu berlaku.
Dalam hal ini, Dr Mahathir dalam tulisannya hari ini berkata, beliau tidak pernah menyatakan beliau tidak berada di Kuala Lumpur ketika itu.
"Soal peristiwa saya kononnya tidak ada dalam negeri semasa peristiwa berlaku bukan disebar oleh saya. Dalam buku saya pun saya tidak sebut perkara ini," kata Dr Mahathir.
Pakar propaganda Umno dan bekas Ketua Pengarang Utusan Malaysia yang juga bekas Menteri Penerangan Datuk Zainudin Maidin bertegas bahawa Dr Mahathir berada di China selepas kenyataan Musa bahawa Dr Mahathir berada di Kuala Lumpur ketika itu.
Namun Zainudin menegaskan, ia berdasarkan ingatan beliau.
Dr Mahathir mengaku, pada 20 November 1985, sehari selepas kejadian Memali, beliau mengepalai satu rombongan swasta yang amat besar ke China dan Musa antara yang berada di lapangan terbang.
Dr Mahathir berkata, beliau begitu yakin yang Musa dapat menangani keadaan "sehingga saya melantik beliau sebagai Pemangku Perdana Menteri", iaitu selepas kejadian itu.
Yang diketahui umum, kata Dr Mahathir, Datuk Musa Hitam ialah Menteri Dalam Negeri, di samping memikul jawatan Timbalan Perdana Menteri pada masa itu.
"Sebagai Menteri Dalam Negeri, rundingan dan laporan oleh Ketua Polis Negara dibuat kepadanya. Menteri Dalam Negeri juga terlibat dalam memutuskan tindakan yang diambil. Jika hanya apabila semua berjalan dengan baik pengakuan bertanggungjawab dibuat, tentulah ini kurang manis," tulis Dr Mahathir.
Dr Mahathir juga berkata, harus diingat bahawa anggota polis dibunuh sebelum polis menembak balas.
"Amat malang sekali sementara kematian Ibrahim dan pengikutnya diingati, bahkan dilaung sebagai syahid, kematian anggota polis yang menjaga keselamatan kita dilupakan," tulis beliau.
"Ya. Sepatutnya insiden ini tidak berlaku. Tetapi sanggupkah kita membiar sehingga sesuatu itu sudah melarat baru kita ambil tindakan.
“Lihatlah keadaan yang sedang berlaku di beberapa negara sekarang ini kerana polis tidak dibenar bertindak secara berkesan," tulis Dr Mahathir.
Peristiwa Memali berlaku apabila polis cuba menahan Ibrahim Libya di bawah Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) kerana didakwa mengamalkan ajaran sesat.
Ibrahim pula tidak mahu menyerah diri kalau ditahan di bawah ISA. Akibatnya polis merempuh perumahan Ibrahim dan pengikutnya dengan kereta perisai dan mengakibatkan 14 penduduk kampung dan empat anggota polis terbunuh.
Musa dipersalahkan atas peristiwa itu dan Dr Mahathir selaku perdana menteri terlepas kerana dia diberitakan berada di China.
Pendedahan Musa memberikan satu episod baru dalam peristiwa hitam ini.
PAS menyifatkan semua yang terbunuh sebagai mati syahid manakala Sultan Kedah Tuanku Abdul Halim menziarahi kubur Ibrahim dan pengikutnya serta menyiramkan air mawar di atas pusara mereka.
Ekoran pendedahan Musa, PAS dan DAP mencadangkan Suruhanjaya Diraja dibentuk bagi menyiasat semula kejadian ini. – tmi
Dr M confirms he was in M'sia during Memali...
Former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad has confirmed that he was in Malaysia at the time of the bloody Memali crackdown in 1985 but stressed that the incident took place under his then deputy Musa Hitam's watch.
He said it was "unbecoming" for Musa to try in retrospect to pass the responsibility of the incident that cost the lives of 14 civilians and four policemen to him.
"The issue with regards to me not being in Malaysia when the incident occurred was not spread by me."I did not mention this at all in my book. What is publicly known is that Musa Hitam was the home minister and deputy prime minister at that time.
"The inspector-general of police discussed and reported to him as the home minister.
"The home minister is also involved in making the decision on actions that needed to be taken.
"It is surely unbecoming if when things were going well, only then one admits to the responsibility," he said in his blog today.
'I can't recall...'
He is referring to Musa's claim on April 4 that the latter was "not directly involved" in the fatal operations.
Musa, who was speaking as a panellist at a forum hosted by the Kelantan government, added that he had urged Mahathir not to leave the country following the incident on Nov 19, 1985.
"I cannot recall Musa Hitam (right)
coming up to me to ask me not to go to Beijing but he was, with many
others, at the airport, to wish me well on my trip to China."Even at that time I cannot recall if he (Musa) had advised me against going abroad," Mahathir wrote on his blog.
However, he maintained that he had appointed Musa as acting prime minister at the time.
"I was very confident in the ability of the deputy prime minister to handle the situation that I appointed him as acting prime minister," wrote Mahathir.
During the controversial operations, a large police force surrounded the house of PAS leader Ibrahim (Libya) Mahmood to arrest him under the Internal Security Act (ISA), claiming he was heading a "deviant" sect.
"There were no lengthy negotiations with the besieged and by noon 14 men, including Ibrahim Libya, lay dead.
"Four police personnel also died, apparently as a result of friendly fire and several of the survivors were arrested under the ISA," wrote Suaram adviser Kua Kia Soong of the "massacre" in a recent commentary.-mk
'Karpal tak akan berlalu secara senyap-senyap'
Hampir 30 tahun berlalu, walaupun berdepan dengan banyak ancaman dalam hidupnya, Karpal Singh tetap enggan berundur secara senyap-senyap melalui pintu belakang .
Pernah beliau diminta oleh pegawai polis supaya secara rahsia meninggalkan bilik mahkamah bagi mengelak bahaya ancaman seorang lelaki, yang mendakwa mempunyai kuasa ghaib, yang mengancam untuk menyerang Karpal kerana menyaman sultan.
Karpal enggan, dengan berkata " jika saya pergi melalui pintu belakang sekarang, saya akan melalui pintu belakang sepanjang hidup saya."
Ahli politik dan peguam yang kini berusia 74 tahun itu kekaldengan sikap tabahnya itu sehinggalah hari ini, dalam menghadapi satu lagi percubaan oleh kerajaan untuk bukan sahaja menguburkan kerjaya politiknya , tetapi juga untuk menyumbatnya ke dalam penjara.
Hukuman bagi sabitannya terhadap tuduhan hasutan baru-baru ini - denda sebanyak RM4,000 - menghalang Karpal daripada memegang jawatan politik dan dikenakan tempoh hilang kelayakan selama lima tahun untuk bertanding kerusi Parlimen.
Malaysia tidak mempunyai had umur untuk menjadi anggota Parlimen, dan Karpal berkata usianya akan mencecah 82 tahun apabila dia layak semula kembali ke arena politik.
"Mereka tidak melakukannya secara adil; ia bukanlah cara yangbetul untuk melakukannya, "kata Karpal mengulas percubaan untuk mengenyah beliau dari politik.
Karpal telah mengemukakan rayuan terhadap sabitannya itu.
"Saya akan lawan mereka di Mahkamah Persekutuan ," katanya sambil menambah bahawa sekiranya beliau terpaksa pergi, beliau tidak rugi apa-apa.
Beliau mengeluh tentang ketiadaan lagi Majlis Privy sebagai mahkamah rayuan terakhir di Malaysia , kerana "anda boleh mengharapkan keadilan " dari hakim Inggeris, yang menurutnya, objektif terhadap implikasi politik dalam penghakiman.- mk
For Karpal, no going out the back door...
Nearly 30 years on from one of the first of many threats on his life, Karpal Singh still refuses to slip quietly out the back door.
Then, he was urged by police officers to secretly leave a courtroom to avoid the danger posed by a man, claiming to have spiritual powers, who threatened to attack Karpal for suing the sultan.
Karpal refused, saying “if I go through that back door now, I will go through back doors all my life.”
The
74-year-old lawyer-politician maintains the same stoicism today, in the
face of yet another attempt by the government to not only kill his
political career, but also to put him in jail.The sentence for his recent sedition conviction, a RM4,000 fine, precludes Karpal from holding political office and imposes a five-year disqualification period on running for Parliament again.
Malaysia has no upper-age limit to enter Parliament, and Karpal said he would be 82 when he would be eligible to return to politics.
“They are not doing it fairly; it is not the right way to do it,” Karpal said of the attempt to remove him from politics.
But he plans to give the government “a run for their money” on appeal.
“I will fight them to the Federal Court, and if at the end of it I have to go, then that’s too bad. I’ve got nothing left to lose.”
He laments the loss of the Privy Council as Malaysia’s final court of appeal, as “you could expect justice” from the English judges, who were objective to the political implications of the verdict.
Antiquated British law
Yet for the enviable justice administered by British courts, it is an antiquated British law that Karpal has been convicted under.
“Sedition was a law brought by the British, way back in 1948. I don’t think any other country has sedition anymore, because what it amounts to is criticism of the government, which is allowed in a democracy. But here, you have no right.”
Malaysia kept the offence of sedition because “they want it as a political weapon against critics of the government, an easy way out,” Karpal said.
It
is the second time he has been charged under the same legislation; the
first, for a statement he made in court in the defence of Anwar Ibrahim,
then facing charges of sodomy.It was the only known charge of sedition brought against a lawyer for remarks made in court in defence of a client in any country in the Commonwealth. In the face of intense pressure from the international community in Karpal’s defence, the government backed off.
“I think they were waiting for some other chance, which I think they thought they have got now.”
The government has filed a cross-appeal on Karpal’s sentence, seeking to imprison him. The maximum penalty available under the law is a three-year jail term.
“Yes, they want to put me inside. They want a custodial sentence. Can you imagine it?” he asked, laughing.
The threat of incarceration does not worry the veteran politician - “not at all.”
“If they put me inside, they are dead. Internationally, there will be a hue and cry, especially with me in my state,” he said, referring to the wheelchair he has been forced to use since 2005, when a car accident left him with spinal injuries and severely limited mobility.
Political martyrs
The jail term sought by the government carries an additional penalty - a five-year suspension on holding political office would, in that case, apply from the date Karpal was released from jail.
Yet Karpal knows both he and Anwar - sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on the latest sodomy charges - would become political martyrs if imprisoned.
“Once you do that injustice, then the ballot box will bring about the justice which you have denied others. But these are challenging things. It makes it more interesting, but also very dangerous at times.”
In
the face of seemingly never-ending challenges, few would begrudge
Karpal a peaceful retirement away from the persecution he has suffered
for decades at the hand of the government, as an ever-present thorn in
their side.But he already has plans for his first act should the opposition win its hard-fought battle to come to power in Malaysia.
“The first thing I will ensure is that all convictions made against us will be set aside, declared invalid.
“We won’t go for a witch-hunt, but we will make sure to nail the buggers who did wrong to us. That will be nice,” he said, with a small smile at the idea of finally being vindicated after so many years.
Asked why he stays in Malaysia in the face of so much adversity, Karpal’s answer is simple.
“They want to make it as difficult as they can for us here so we’ll go away. But we will not go - that would be giving them what they want, and that would be wrong.
“We have to stay and fight.” - mk
cheers.
No comments:
Post a Comment