MP wants Noh to retract false 1987 Ops Lalang claim

Noh, who is Tanjung Karang MP, had said in Parliament yesterday that it was such laws as the abolished Internal Security Act (ISA), which allowed for detention without trial, that kept the country safe in 1987 when "non-Malays had questioned the rights of Malays".

Kok (left), in a statement, said that Noh Omar should retract his “unjust and false remarks” and apologise to all who had “suffered” due to the 1987 ISA crackdown.

"He ought to know that racial tensions had been created because of some power seekers in Umno.”

She noted that under the Ops Lalang in 1987, 106 people were detained and their families had suffered as newspaper licenses were revoked and many journalists lost their jobs during the crackdown.

DAP leader Lim Kit Siang, who were among those caught in the dragnet and was detained for 18 months, had attributed the cause of racial tensions back then to insecurity at Umno due to a party split between two factions, one led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the other by Tengku Razaleigh-Musa Hitam.

Hence, Kok said that Noh had deliberately insulted the detainees by not painting the true picture.

She accused him of intentially omitting to talk about certain incidences such as how an Umno Youth Rally at the Jalan Raja Muda Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on Oct17, 1987, featured banners which alleged display slogans such as: “May 13 has begun” and “Soak it (keris) with Chinese blood.”