BALING: “IT was the darkest day of my life when I lost my husband in the tragic incident but it is even more painful as I have been carrying the burden to fight for justice in clearing his name from all the slander and lies for the past 33 years.”
Those were the words of Soleha Husin, widow of slain religious preacher Ibrahim Mahmud, who was known as Ibrahim Libya.
Soleha said she prayed that the setting up of a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCl) on the Memali incident in 1985 would finally materialise.
The 65-year-old, who was left to take care of her five children after the incident, said the only consolation for her family was to see the truth revealed through the RCI.
“All I want is for the truth to be revealed and my husband’s name to be cleared from all the malice and false allegations levelled by those responsible for the incident.
“My children had been forced to live with all sorts of false allegations by the authorities, who branded him as a leader of a terrorist organisation, extremist and propagating deviant teachings.
“He has been dead for 33 years. Before I die, I wish to get justice for my late husband,” she said in an interview.
Soleha, who was detained for two months following the Nov 19, 1985 incident, said she would never be at peace until the setting up of an RCI on the Memali tragedy happened.
She stressed that only through the RCI, her family and those who were affected by the incident would have closure to the controversial tragedy involving villagers who defended her husband from being arrested by the police.
The mother of five, who still lives in the house where the incident had taken place, claimed that there was misleading and false information in the White Paper on Memali released by the government in 1986.
“My husband was merely against the Internal Security Act, as it was a draconian law which is against the principle of Islam, but the authorities had painted a picture that he was an extremist who was waging a war to topple the government.
“He had vowed that he would rather die than be detained under the oppressive law but instead ended up being accused of leading an armed revolution against the authorities.
“After 10 years of going in and out of the courts, the government agreed to pay RM20,000 to the family of 14 civilians killed in the incident and that should be the ground for the government to set up the RCI to reveal the truth.”
Soleha also shared her concern that calls for the RCI would be ignored should Pakatan Harapan win the 14th General Election (GE14) and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was returned to power.
“He was the prime minister then and I am worried that our plea for the past three decades for the setting up of the RCI will be shot down if he assumes power once again,” she said.
Kampung Memali in Baling, Kedah, was the scene of bloodshed on Nov 19, 1985, when villagers resisted police’s attempt to arrest Ibrahim under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for deviant teachings, an allegation rejected by Pas.
Eighteen people, including four policemen, were killed and more than 100 people were injured in the clash.