Hadi claims Memali flashpoint caused by 'country's leader'

The Memali incident, which claimed 18 lives, was a wrongdoing against Islam perpetrated by the then country's leader, claimed PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, without naming anyone.

In a blog posting today, Hadi said the police were forced to act on the religious group in the northern state who had an obligation to defend Islam's sanctity.

Citing the concept of Maqasid Syariah, he said the wrongdoing against the religious is a bigger crime than financial wrongdoings as Islam places a high priority in upholding religion.

"When there is a dispute on religious matters, it is not the duty of the police to sort it out. It must be the religious authorities who should have been sent to Memali to disseminate the truth, not the police," he added.

"The action on the Memali villagers by the authorities is a wrongdoing against Islam. Police acted against the religious group, who were only defending Islam's sanctity," he reiterated.

In the Memali flashpoint on Nov 19, 1985, 18 lives including that of Ibrahim Libya and four policemen were lost. A 576-member strong police team had attempted to arrest Ibrahim at his bastion in Kampung Memali.

Memories of the incident surfaced at a forum on Aug 13, where former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad spoke. As he responded to a question from the floor, regarding the incident, chaos erupted at the hall in Shah Am.

PAS had called for a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to look into the Memali tragedy and Putrajaya said yesterday it will decide whether to set up one after getting feedback from the public. 

Following the call to set up RCI, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang and former inspector-general of police Abdul Rahim Noor have pointed out the roleof Hadi in the tragedy.

Lim said Hadi should testify in the RCI on the impact of his speech, known as Amanat Hadi (Hadi's address) while Rahim said an RCI on Memali would likely expose Hadi's role in influencing PAS members involved in the incident.

In his blog posting today, Hadi also said he was tasked by his party at that time to explain on issues pertaining to infidels to counter Mustika Hadis, a book published by the Islamic Division of the Prime Minister's Department, which he believed contained extreme elements on Islam.

"The PAS leader then entrusted me to prepare a research, titled Batas-batas Imandan Kufur which was aimed to tackle issues regarding "infidels" among PAS members. - Mkini