A FEW careless words from Dr Mahathir Mohamad about the Memali incident and the Pakatan Harapan machinery found itself in full damage control mode

Now the opposition will have to wait and see if Dr Mahathir’s immediate apology via a video clip will appease PAS supporters who had looked to be on the brink of supporting PH in GE14 before the ill-advised comments at a rally in Lembah Pantai.

It is learnt Amanah members advised the opposition leader to apologise. Malaysia Decides understands a pollster tracking voter movement believes that Malay support for PH dropped by two percentage points after Dr Mahathir’s statement was pounced upon and played up by Barisan Nasional.

On Thursday at a ceramah, the 93-year-old PH chairman had said the 1985 Memali incident was triggered by “Amanat Hadi, a speech by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang in 1981. Dr Mahathir went on to say that those who died that day were not martyrs, but had “mati katak” (died in vain).

The former prime minister yesterday apologised for his statement in a YouTube video shared on his social media accoun.

“In my speeches, I sometimes make mistakes. I apologise if I had angered certain people,” he said.

An Amanah source said leaders of the PAS splinter party had told  Dr Mahathir that unless an apology was quickly issued, the comment would undo all the work the coalition had done to convince PAS supporters to vote for it in the 14th general election.

“Dr Mahathir’s mistake of mentioning the Memali incident caused many PAS members who wanted to support PH in Kedah to go back to PAS,” the source told Malaysia Decides.

“Although what Dr Mahathir said had some truth, now is not the time to ask who was at fault but to ask n who will get more support, which will win GE14,” said the source, who declined to be named.

Fourteen Memali villagers and four security officers were killed in a siege to capture an ustaz who was also a local PAS leader, Ibrahim Mahmud, in Memali, Kedah, in 1985.

Ibrahim, better known as Ibrahim Libya, had refused to surrender, which led to bloodshed.

In response to Dr Mahathir’s apology, PAS president Hadi said he had forgiven the Langkawi candidate if he had been referring to Hadi in his comments.

“If the comment (that he did) is referring to me, I forgive him. If it is referred to God, he has to repent because it is between him and God,” said Hadi. – May 5, 2018.