PUTRAJAYA has not decided whether to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the Memali tragedy as various factors need to be taken into account before then, Prime Minister Najib Razak said.

However, Najib did not discount the possibility of an investigation as the people deserve to know the truth behind the tragedy, which happened more than 30 years ago during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s time as prime minister.

“Now, we wait for the people’s reaction, including those who were involved in the incident before the government makes a final decision.

“We do not reject the possibility of an RCI, but the decision will only be made when the time is right,” he told a press conference after chairing an Umno Supreme Council meeting at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur today.

The Memali incident recently resurfaced when PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang claimed that the fracas at the Nothing to Hide 2.0 forum was triggered by a poor answer by Dr Mahathir on a question regarding the Memali incident.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had last week said the government is ready to form an RCI to probe the Memali incident if there is demand for it from any party, including from the victims’ families.

Even PAS had received the suggestion well, agreeing that Hadi should be a witness if an RCI was ever formed.

The Memali incident took place on November 19, 1985 in Kampung Memali, Baling, Kedah, where four police officers and 14 others died in a clash when police attempted to arrest religious teacher Ibrahim Mahmud, better known as Ibrahim Libya.

The incident occurred when Musam Hitam was the deputy prime minister and home minister.

After the incident, the Memali Incident White Paper was tabled in Parliament by Musa, which detailed the environment then and the clash between police and followers of Ibrahim Libya.

The report also spoke of the “Amanat Hadi” and the role it had in the whole episode, and said the police operation there was intended to enforce the law and curb activities that threaten domestic security.

However, survivors of the tragedy regarded the white paper as a lie. – August 24, 2017.