Memali Incident 1985

Memali Incident 1985

(Source from Wikipedia)

The Memali Incident was a major incident that occured in the remote village of Memali, Baling in the Malaysia state of Kedah on November 19, 1985.

A team of 200 policemen under the orders from the Acting Prime Minister and Home Minister, Musa Hitam, laid seige to Kampung (village) houses in Memali, near Baling in Kedah.  The houses were occupied by an Islamic sect of about 400 people led by Ibrahim Mahmud a.k.a. Ibrahim Libya.

The police action left 14 civilians and 4 policemen dead.  The villagers were armed with a few hunting riffles and spears and other rudimentary weapons.  The police used heavy vehicles.  At the height of the assault, some villagers, men and women, came out in the open in a state of frenzy and hysteria.

Police detained 159 people, including women and children.  36 person involved in the incident were arrested under the Internal Security Act on January 1986, but were released in June.

Background

The Memali incident followed severely strained relationship between UMNO and PAS, the two major political parties in Malaysia.  Some PAS leaders had concluded that UMNO members were apostate.  In 1981, Hadi Awang, a senior PAS politician made claims that to resist UMNO and the UMNO led government that does practice Islamic Hudud law is a Jihad, and those who died in the struggle are al-shahid.

Consequences

Pas called those who died in the Memali Incident 1985 as al-shahid, those who achieved shahid (martyrdom).  This was in stark contrast to the government's stand of calling those who died as "criminals".

"A Police Remembers" by YM Tunku Muszaffar Shah, who was the OCPD Baling, Kedah from 1981-1986. Raised two main issues:

1. Why was (Tun) Musa Hitam order "to avoid any spilling of blood", ignored?

2. Where was (Tun) Dr. Mahatir during the incident, and what was he doing？

Operation at Fault

Memali Incident 1985 was a police action that had gone wrong.  It was a simple operation that had high casualty, according to Malaysia standard.

Before the Memali Incident, both political parties had accused each other of criminals/apostate.  After the incident, with the blood spilled, but neither side seemed to be cooling down.

It is not allowed, according to Kitab Al-Jihad, for one Muslim to kill another Muslim without proper justification.  In Hadith Abu Dawud, Kitab Al-Jihad, Hadith 2526;

Narrated Anas ibn Malik:  The Prophet (pbh) said:

Three things are the roots of faith:

1. To refrain from (killing) a person who utters, "There is no God but Allah."

2. and Not to declare him unbeliever whatever sin he commits.

3. and Not to excommunicate him from Islam.

and Jihad will be performed continuously since the day Allah sent me as a prophet until the last member of my community will fight with the dajjal (false prophet).  The tyrany of a tyrant and the justice of any just (ruler) will not invalidate it.  One must have faith in Divine decree.

Recommendation

What had happened in Memali 1985, was a Police Operation that went very wrong.  It is therefore important for all to find out what actually went wrong on that day, so, precautionary measure could be taken in the future to avoid such mistake from taking place again.

Error should be prevented in the future, sin should be forgiven by God.