There is considerable merit in the proposal by the former Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Tun Musa Hitam that a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the Memali Tragedy in November 1985 which claimed 18 lives be held but after the 14th General Election.
Musa said the RCI should be established after the next general election to prevent it from being abused by politicians for their interests. There is also no need to rush the RCI since the incident occurred more than three decades ago.
Musa said:
“There is also a need to choose an appropriate time to form (the RCI) and hold the proceedings to ensure that the establishment will serve its purpose rather than fulfil short-term political agendas of certain quarters.
“To me, there is nothing wrong with the formation so long as it is done with the right intention which is to seek the truth and justice without prejudice and that everything is done in accordance with the Constitution and the nation’s law.”
The very next day of Musa’s Ministerial Statement in Parliament on Memali Tragedy in November 1985, I had suggested an Independent Commission of Inquiry, because it should be accepted as a principle of good and responsible government that an independent inquiry would be conducted into any incident involving several public deaths arising from government action.
Furthermore such an independent inquiry would also serve the objective of convincing Malaysians at large that the Memali Tragedy would not be made use of by any quarter for political reasons.
I had made the call for an independent commission of inquiry into the Memali tragedy some 32 years ago as the Memali Tragedy was neither a Muslim or Malay problem nor an UMNO or Pas problem but a Malaysian problem which must be dealt with on a non-partisan Malaysian basis.