Former Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Rahim Noor said in an interview with The Malaysian Insight today that he did not understand why the PAS President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang would want to resurrect the Memali tragedy in 1985, as “it will emerge that he had played a role in it”.

Rahim said that if a Royal Commission of Inquiry is to be held into the Memali tragedy, “we won’t be able to avoid the fact that the ‘Amanat Hadi’ had played a role in causing the Memali incident”.

“Amanat Hadi” refers to Hadi’s speech on April 7, 1981, in which he declared Umno and Barisan Nasional an infidel government who ruled like colonialists.

In “Amanat Hadi”, Hadi, the then PAS Terengganu commissioner had said:

“Percayalah, kita menentang Umno, bukan kerana nama dia Umno. Kita menentang Barisan Nasional bukan kerana dia lama memerintah kerajaan. Kita menentang dia ialah kerana dia mengekalkan perlembagaan penjajah, mengekalkan undang-undang kafir, mengekalkan peraturan jahiliyah. Oleh kerana itulah kita menentang mereka. Oleh kerana itulah kita menghadapi mereka. Oleh itulah kita cuba berlawan dengan mereka.

“Perjuangan kita adalah jihad, ucapan kita adalah jihad, derma kita adalah jihad. Bergantunglah kita kepada Allah dengan (menghadapi) puak-puak ini kerana kalau kita mati melawan puak-puak ini, mati kita adalah syahid. Mati kita adalah Islam. Kita tidak perlu masuk Buddha, kita tidak perlu masuk Hindu, kita tidak perlu masuk Kristian, tapi kita menjadi kafir dengan mengamalkan politik suku, agama suku.”

Rahim, who was Selangor police chief when the Memali tragedy occurred on November 19, 1985, said Hadi’s 1981 speech had served to inspire PAS members nationwide, including religious teacher and PAS member Ibrahim Mahmud, also known as Ibrahim Libya, who formed a militant sect that wanted to go beyond political struggle.

Rahim said ‘Amanat Hadi’ had two important elements: the accusation that Muslims who failed to adopt Islam as a complete way of life, including in politics were kaffir, or infidels; and the declaration that opposition to Umno and BN was “jihad” and those who died in the struggle were “martyrs”.

Rahim said Hadi’s message was actively taken up and preached by PAS Youth, and it was this message that inspired Ibrahim Libya.

Rahim, who was formerly Bukit Aman Special Branch chief, said Ibrahim Libya was a strident PAS follower and was very loyal to Hadi’s message.
Let Hadi appear before the Memali tragedy RCI to testify the impact of Amanat Hadi on the loss of 18 lives in 1985 and how he could reconcile Amanat Hadi with his present intimate relationship and defence of Najib and the 1MDB scandal, even to the extent of deflecting attention, criticism and attacks on Malaysia transformed overnight into a “global kleptocracy”.

I had said that what Hadi has done as PAS President after the break-up of Pakatan Rakyat as a result of the PAS leadership’s reneging from the Pakatan Rakyat Common Policy Framework and the Pas Muktamar resolution in June 2016 would be anathema to previous PAS Mursyidul Ams and Presidents of yesteryears like Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, Fadzil Noor and Yusof Rawa.

It would not be inconceivable to imagine Nik Aziz, Fadzil Noor and Yusuf Rawa leading national and international campaigns against the 1MDB scandal and to clear or cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy – but not Hadi.

Why is this the case?