THE government would have detained Abdul Hadi Awang if not for the possibility that it could have caused even more unrest after the Memali incident, Dr Mahathir Mohamad told local leaders at a closed-door meeting in Kuala Terengganu today.

“Hadi should have been arrested under the Internal Security Act. But after taking into account that it could cause more unrests because of his fanatical followers, he was not arrested,” said Dr Mahathir, who was prime minister when the Memali incident happened in 1985.

The former prime minister also maintained that Hadi’s message, also known as “Amanat Hadi”, had caused the Memali incident.

Dr Mahathir, who is now chairman of the Pakatan Harapan opposition coalition, said Hadi’s followers believed they would die as martyrs if they fought against Umno and the government, whom he branded as “infidels”.

Hadi gave his infamous speech on April 7, 1981 at Kampung Banggol Peradong, Terengganu, changing the Malay political relationship between PAS and Umno. It was the rallying cry in PAS’ battle against the ruling party. The then 34-year-old Hadi was the Terengganu PAS commissioner.

Such was the ferocity of the attacks back then, that families were split along political lines, while separate surau and mosques were built in villages for supporters of PAS and Umno.

It was four years after that speech that the Memali incident took place, where 14 civilians, including religious teacher Ibrahim Mahmud, better known as Ibrahim Libya, and four policemen died after clashes in Baling.

A White Paper on Memali, prepared by the Home Ministry in 1986, said the police acted in accordance with the law.

“Ibrahim Mahmood, a PAS leader, had broken the law and was encouraging violence by using religion. He had influenced them to the point where they had lost their rationality and attacked the police, believing they would die as martyrs.

“The Memali incident was the result of a group of people using religion for their own political gains,” the White Paper revealed.

Former inspector-general of police Abdul Rahim Noor had also said that the Memali incident stemmed from “Amanat Hadi”.

Hadi’s speech had not only influenced militant leader Ibrahim, but also many members of the party’s youth wing, who were arrested before they could cause trouble, Rahim had said. – August 26, 2017.