Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has maintained what he said in Tom Plate’s new book “Doctor M: Operation Malaysia – Conversations with Mahathir Mohamad” that he had “actually met all of the opposition members (beforehand) and assured them that they would not be arrested”.

Following my rebuttal that I had never met Mahathir and that he never gave me any assurance that I would not be arrested before the launch of Operation Lalang on Oct. 27, 1987, Mahathir repeated yesterday: “I met Kit Siang and his friends as a group”.

He said he felt some of the political figures did not need to serve detention at that time.

“It was the police who took action against them and I accepted their decision.”

I had challenged Mahathir to name the Opposition leaders he had met and given assurance that they would not be arrested – now reduced to “Kit Siang and his friends as a group” –but subsequently overruled by the police in the Operation Lalang crackdown, but Mahathir has not been able to name anyone of the others.
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