Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad was reported in the media as denying that he was responsible for the infamous Operation Lalang in 1987 where 108 persons were detained under the draconian detention-without-trial Internal Security Act for him to consolidate political control and power in government, Umno and Barisan Nasional.
Nanyang Siang Pau today even quoted Mahathir as disclaiming that he was Home Minister at the time of Operation Lalang, claiming that at the time he was in China and the Home Minister was one ‘Musa”.
Mahathir was talking rubbish. He is not only guilty of selective amnesia when it suits him, as when he told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Videotape scandal that he could not remember anything about the incidents related to the scandal of the fixing of judicial appointments, he has now shown that he is capable of telling downright lies to disclaim responsibility for the human rights violations perpetrated during his time as Prime Minister and Home Minister.
Mahathir can tell lies without batting an eyelid about the history of his premiership but he cannot change history at his whims and fancies. It is indisputable that Mahathir was the Home Minister during the Operation Lalang crackdown in 1987 and there was no ‘Musa” at the time acting as Home Minister.
Tun Musa Hitam, who will be celebrating his 80th birthday in two months’ time, was the first Home Minister in Mahathir’s premiership, serving from 1981-1986, until he broke ranks with Mahathir resigning both as Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister.
In April 1987, Musa had teamed up with Tengku Razaleigh to challenge Mahathir-Ghafar Baba for the posts of UMNO President-Deputy President, with Razaleigh losing by a mere 43 votes after a power blackout and election hanky-panky which later resulted in UMNO being declared an unlawful political party by the courts.
As far as my memory could recall, Mahathir was never in China before the Operation Lalang crackdown. He was in Vancouver in Canada for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) before the Operation Lalang ISA mass arrests.
It is most unworthy and even cowardly of Mahathir to deny that he was responsible for the most infamous violation of human rights in the Operation Lalang ISA crackdown in 1987, made doubly worse by his attempt even to deny that he was Home Minister.
In fact after his rift with Musa Hitam, Mahathir never trusted anyone else as Home Minister for the next 14 years, keeping the reins of the Home Ministry to himself (which was the cause of the origin of the Project Mahathir where over a million illegal immigrants in Sabah were unlawfully issued citizenship or voter status, changing the course of demography and politics in Sabah and even Malaysia), until December 1999, when he appointed Abdullah Badawi as Home Minister.
Mahathir should apologise to all the 108 Operation Lalang detainees under the ISA for the Ops Lalang as he could not shirk responsibility for the dragnet especially as he was Home Minister at the time.
(Media Conference Statement in Batu Pahat on Sunday 16th February 2014 at 10 am)
#1 by tak tahan on Sunday, 16 February 2014 - 6:20 pm
The top liar goes to……..
The most selectively ‘mudah lupa’ goes to……
The father of all racist goes to…….
Ladies and gentlement…Apanama Tun taik mahataik,Bolehland’s sateyman from Kerala
#2 by Bigjoe on Sunday, 16 February 2014 - 7:14 pm
Its no wonder Tunku thought Mahathir father was from Pakistan. No real Malay I know would could stand the shame of being caught with such an obvious lie and would never attempt it.
Everytime Mahathir says these things, Tunku keep winning one in history books..
#3 by worldpress on Sunday, 16 February 2014 - 10:44 pm
This mama use racial to hide his evil plan
#4 by sheriff singh on Monday, 17 February 2014 - 2:48 am
If I remember correctly, he said in an interview some years ago, it was Police who wanted the crackdown. They then approached Mahathir as the PM and Home Minister Mahathir who gave his approval. Mahathir said that he could not do anything but to agree to the Police crackdown as ‘they had the guns’ (or words like that). He just stood aside and let the police round up the 108 which included UMNO members that were not in his camp. Non-UMNO personalities like MCA politicians were not detained but were advised to flee the country. I think Lee Kim Sai went to Australia for some months until things cooled down.
We are now seeing the dark and true side of Mahathir who does not like people muddying his ‘good’ name or destroying his ‘legacy’ which is now in tatters. He is fighting a lost game but let us hope he will live long enough to be ‘disheartened’ further by Najib and company and his other opponents.
#5 by sheriff singh on Monday, 17 February 2014 - 2:51 am
I believe Hanif Omar, who was the IGP then, confirmed Mahathir’s version that he just let the Police round up the 108.
#6 by sheriff singh on Monday, 17 February 2014 - 2:59 am
‘ …’one Musa’….’
Will the ‘elegantly silent’ one speak up and speak out to either confirm or deny he was the one who authorised “Ops Lallang” and shame the ‘devil’. Hanif as well.
Mahathir’s interview and Hanif’s subsequent comments were all over the newspapers and should be able for retrieval and reference.
#7 by Noble House on Monday, 17 February 2014 - 3:03 am
How else do you think he managed to hoodwink the Malays all these years into believing everything he told them? And when he knew his game was up, and his tricks and deceit exposed, he called them “Melayu muda lupa”.
Today, he is one of the richest men in the country while the majority of the Malays are struggling to survive on kangkung.
You have got to give it to this man. He sure had his way with this country unlike us simpletons whom he often called “pendatangs”.