Malaysiakini - Don't blame us for Memali, muftis tell Dr M (extracts):
On Saturday, Mahathir chided muftis at the time for not speaking out against Amanat Hadi – an infamous address by current PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, which many believe instigated the followers of Kedah PAS leader Ibrahim Mahmud (or Ibrahim Libya) to kill police officers.
Perak mufti Harussani Zakaria said it was particularly unfair to accuse muftis of not doing anything to prevent the incident as the then government under Mahathir rarely consulted Islamic scholars on most issues.
Harussani was quoted as saying in Sinar Harian that Mahathir's accusation is nothing but an attempt to absolve himself for the violence.
[...]
Pahang mufti Abdul Rahman Osman concurred, claiming that it is wrong for Mahathir to blame muftis for not doing anything at the time.
He was quoted as saying in Utusan Malaysia that Amanat Hadi was just a PAS' view, not a fatwa that could have been challenged.
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Memali 1985 |
On Saturday, Mahathir chided muftis at the time for not speaking out against Amanat Hadi – an infamous address by current PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, which many believe instigated the followers of Kedah PAS leader Ibrahim Mahmud (or Ibrahim Libya) to kill police officers.
Perak mufti Harussani Zakaria said it was particularly unfair to accuse muftis of not doing anything to prevent the incident as the then government under Mahathir rarely consulted Islamic scholars on most issues.
Harussani was quoted as saying in Sinar Harian that Mahathir's accusation is nothing but an attempt to absolve himself for the violence.
[...]
Pahang mufti Abdul Rahman Osman concurred, claiming that it is wrong for Mahathir to blame muftis for not doing anything at the time.
He was quoted as saying in Utusan Malaysia that Amanat Hadi was just a PAS' view, not a fatwa that could have been challenged.
Meanwhile, in response to Mahathir's attack on the muftis, PAS party president Hadi Awang, the very author of the 'Amanat Hadi' retorted (as reported by MM Online) that:
Islamic leaders in 1985 could not comment on the Memali Incident for fear of reprisal from the Mahathir administration then, and that ........ political interference by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s government could be seen in the way judges and police chiefs had been removed during the latter’s rule.
What do you think?
Why has Mahathir blamed the muftis ONLY NOW?
Suspicious-minded kaytee (wakakaka) reckons Mahathir in blaming the muftis for the tragic outcome of the Memali Incident has launched a preemptive attack against the possibility of the federal and Kelantan governments calling for and convening a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into that Incident, gnam gnam just before GE14.
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Memali 1985 |
Mahathir saw the serious propaganda effect against him in the recent RCI on the Bank Negara FOREX loss of RM31.5 Billion, and doesn't want a repeat attack on his reputation again, especially just before the general elections. It's the inevitable consequences of his name being smeared, seared & smudged that he dreads.
Politically he may not survive another such attack through the notional RCI revelations where his name, reputation and alleged insensitivity will be dragged through mud, shit and blood in the Malay Heartland.
The Memali Incident where 14 local Muslim civilians and 4 policemen died has been a very sensitive issue amongst the conservative Muslim community since 1985, some 32 years ago.
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Deaths in Memali 1985 |
Even worse, Mahathir has been particularly vulnerable on this issue ever since former DPM Musa Hitam spilled the beans that Mahathir was STILL in KL during the Memali Killings and not in China as was originally believed by most people.
Though Musa Hitam as then Home Affairs Minister accepted responsibility for the outcome of that Incident, the recently revealed fact of then-PM Mahathir being in country whilst the killings occurred in Memali has thrown the direct responsibility back at Mahathir.
Mahathir's more than 30-years of diam-diam-buat-ta'tahu with his deputy taking the blame has only made him look sneaky, and perhaps even raised more suspicions and questions.
I wonder, just wonder, whether the PAS' 3-decades of anger, hatred and implacable bitterness at Mahathir for the Memali deaths had been the root cause of its supporters describing the then-PM as the cruel Mahafiraun (Pharaoh).
