Ops… he did it again! — Art Harun

February 11, 2011

Actually, after “Tun Dr M - my hero”, I’d wanted to write something about Valentine’s Day.

But since the mullahs have declared that Valentine’s Day is a “sinful Christian vice”, I think I’d better not write about that V Day, lest this blog be declared as a “sinful Art Harun’s vice.”

While on this topic, may I suggest that Muslim teenagers celebrate Saladin’s Day on October 2 every year, to commemorate Saladin’s recapture of Jerusalem in 1187. Perhaps on that day, we can all celebrate the love and humility of Saladin which he showed to the vanquished Christians. That would be tawdally halal, I am sure. (I’d better patent this celebration soon, before some PAS mullahs steal it away).

Oh, while we are at it, why don’t the mullahs also look at Istiadat Bersanding; Berinai; Mandi Bunga; Mandi Raja; Merenjis; Naik Tiang Pasak; Cium Keris; Membawa Cokmar ke dalam Parlimen; Batal Air Sembahyang in order to ascertain whether those adats are Islamic or whether they are relics of Hinduism. If they are the latter, then I suppose they are also haram. I don’t know. I may be wrong.

Anyway, the topic today is not the V Day. It is on Tun Dr M’s recent confession that Operasi Lalang in 1987 was not his making. He also said that it was a decision of the police and that he was actually against it.

Malaysiakini, on February 9, 2011, reproduced some statements made by Tun Dr M from a book, “Doctor M: Operation Malaysia — Conversations with Mahathir Mohamad” by Tom Plate. Dr M allegedly said:

“Well, I would have handled it differently, except that the police wanted to do these things because they say it is necessary...

“I actually met all of the opposition members (beforehand) and assured them that they would not be arrested. And you know what the police did? They arrested them. My credibility is gone,” he said.

“You must have been furious!” retorted Tom Plate, the interviewer and author of the book.

“Yeah, but what can I do? You see, I have to accept that they are the people on the ground that makes a decision. I give general authority to them,” continued Mahathir, who was known as a strongman who brook little dissent.

A day later, Malaysiakini quoted Tun Hanif Omar, the Inspector-General of Police at the relevant time as saying:

“You can’t blame him. He is right. As a matter of fact, it was entirely the police’s decision. It was not his (Mahathir’s) decision. Mahathir was actually opposed to it... He was against Ops Lalang,”.....

“It was not (Mahathir’s) role nor was it his power. We were the ones responsible for it.”

On his blog, The People’s Parliament, Haris Ibrahim in a post titled “Who’s lying now?” alluded to an event in 2004 where Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim supposedly told Haris that he (Anwar) had gone to see Tun Dr M on the eve of the clampdown to implore the Tun not to carry out the arrests. Tun Dr M allegedly told Anwar that he (Anwar) knew nuts about national security.

So, Haris Ibrahim asked, who is lying?

Well, I wouldn’t know the answer. I remember Ops Lalang, along with the days before and after that Ops quite vividly. But who am I to know who ordered it.

However, I stumbled on what Tun Dr M said on his blog, Che Det, on September 28th, 2009. It is quite interesting.

The title to the blog entry was ISA. At paragraphs 6 and 7 of that post, something struck me. Allow me to reproduce them:

“6. At this point visitors to this blog are likely to say I did the same. I admit I did detain people under the ISA in the 1987 Ops Lalang. But it was not because they were members of the opposition. The police had informed me that there was likely to be racial clashes over the issue of Chinese education and the intention of some Umno members to hold a million strong demonstration in K.L.

7. The people detained were not only members of the opposition but included Umno members. As soon as the threat passed the detainees were all released. The issue was not political opposition to the Government but the threat to national security.” (emphasis entirely mine).

So, who ordered Ops Lalang?

As most of you probably know, I don’t dabble in speculations. I don’t know the answer to that question.

An early Happy Saladin’s Day to all of you. — art-harun.blogspot.com