According to Malaysiakini, Zahid said Mahathir – whom he referred to as “that person” – had lied about his whereabouts during the bloody police siege on an alleged village cult in Kedah.
“Apparently he was in China because he wanted to avoid a backlash from the people of Baling, from PAS,” Zahid was quoted as telling delegates at the Baling Umno division meeting today.
Kampung Memali, where the event occurred, is in the Baling constituency.
The acting Umno deputy president said PPBM chairman Mahathir, who was prime minister at the time, had tried to shift responsibility to his then deputy Musa Hitam.
Zahid reportedly cited Musa’s biography in which the former deputy prime minister said Mahathir was in the country when the incident occurred.
“That person (Mahathir) was in Malaysia, but put the blame on Musa, and Musa was made a scapegoat by that person,” Zahid was quoted as saying.
The confrontation in Nov 1985 where police laid siege around an Islamic sect with about 400 followers led to the deaths of 14 villagers and four policemen, with numerous others suffering injuries.
Many of the cult members, who followed charismatic preacher Ibrahim Mahmud also popularly known as Ibrahim Libya, were arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
Ibrahim, a local PAS leader who contested unsuccessfully for the party in two general elections, was also killed in the incident.
According to Malaysiakini, Mahathir had in 2014 admitted to being in Malaysia when the police clashed with the villagers.
He however insisted that Musa should take any responsibility on the matter as he was acting prime minister and also home minister in charge of police at that time.
Zahid was also quoted as saying that Mahathir had a tendency to twist facts, which made him a liar.
On July 30, Zahid claimed at the Kelana Jaya Umno division meeting that Mahathir’s old blue-coloured IC carried the name “Mahathir a/l Iskandar Kutty”.
The “a/l” stands for “anak lelaki” which in Malay means “son of”, and is commonly used in the official naming of Malaysians of Indian ethnicity.
Zahid had said that “the man who struggled for the Malay agenda” was actually “using the Malays”.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2014/04/06/memali-not-late-for-truth-and-justice/