THE Memali incident of 1985 in Kedah is being brought up after 32 years to destroy the relationship between Pakatan Harapan (PH) and PAS so as to ensure a victory for the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government in the general election to come, a former Umno leader and cabinet minister said.

Sanusi Junid said the political reconciliation between former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and de facto PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim had rattled the BN leaders.

The ruling coalition believe that should Islamist party PAS also be persuaded to join the opposition, BN stood to lose its decades-long grip on power.

“This is why attention has now been shifted to the Memali tragedy, (it is to) to cause a rift between PAS and Dr Mahathir,” Sanusi told The Malaysian Insight.

He said the raising up of the ssue was also meant to deflect attention away from the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal as well as corruption in Felda Global Ventures (FGV) which is currently under investgation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

“The government also hopes that all the scandals, mismanagement and corruption that have caused the people to suffer today, can be wiped out with (the raising of) this decades-old incident.”

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi recently said the government was disposed to forming a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into the Memali incident, sparking a flurry of reactions from politicians to former high-ranking civil servants, who have opposed the idea.

Sanusi, who was minister of rural and regional development at the time of the incident, said he supported former deputy prime minister Musa Hitam’s view that an RCI, if necessary, should only take place after the general election so that it does not become a vote-fishing exercise.

Musa was also the home minister at the time of the incident.

“It is the wisest statement to come from Tun Musa Hitam, and I support it,” said Sanusi.

“If you want to form a Memali RCI, do it after GE14.”

Sanusi said if the opposition alliance led by Dr Mahathir managed to secure the cooperation of PAS in GE14, leading to a straight fight between PH and BN, victory was assured for the opposition.

He said PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, who was now cosying up to Umno, might have put his foot in his mouth when he blamed Dr Mahathir for the fracas that broke out at the recent “Nothing To Hide 2.0” forum.

“Hadi didn’t foresee that by bringing up the Memali incident, he would reveal his own weaknesses,” said Sanusi.

“Like former police chief Abdul Rahim Noor said, the RCI will only reveal Hadi’s role in the Memali tragedy.”

Sanusi, who served as deputy home minister from 1980 to 1981, said it was standard operating procedure (SOP) for the police to obtain the permission from the home minister before engaging in gunfire.

Without orders from the home minister, police could only open fire if they are attacked first.

“The home minister could only be blamed if he gave police the permission to shoot.

“The police could only be blamed if it was proved that they acted outside the law,” said Sanusi.

He said issues of national security was under the purview of the home minister, adding that as then-prime minister, Dr Mahathir could not be held responsible for the outcome of the tragedy. – August 25, 2017.