To many in the older generation, it brings back memories of a dark point in the nation’s history.

The word is an acronym for Majlis Gerakan Negara, translated as National Operations Council.

Mahathir said he proposed, during his royal audience at Istana Negara yesterday, that Mageran take over the administration of the country from Perikatan Nasional. He also said he offered to lead the council.

With some help from social activist Chandra Muzaffar, FMT takes a look at Mageran’s background and the role it played when it was active.

It was formed on May 15, 1969, after a state of emergency was declared and a curfew imposed following the May 13 race riots, which erupted after the general election.

It functioned as a caretaker government and sought to restore the rule of law and steer the country towards national reconciliation. It was dissolved in 1971.

The then prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, opted to stay out of Mageran and appointed his deputy, Abdul Razak Hussein, as its director.

“Tunku said he wanted someone who could give all his attention to this,” said Chandra. “Razak was much younger. So he appointed him to that role.”

With the country having just gone through a general election, no Cabinet had been appointed yet. So several members of the Tunku’s previous Cabinet were appointed to sit on Mageran.

Prominent members included Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, VT Sambanthan, Tan Siew Sin and Muhammad Ghazali Shafie. Armed forces chief Tengku Osman Jiwa and inspector-general of police Mohamed Salleh Ismael were also council members.

Before the general election, Ismail had resigned as home minister, citing health reasons. But when Razak called, he immediately agreed to serve on the council.

Tan, the MCA president, and Sambanthan, the MIC president, were finance minister and works minister, respectively, in the previous Cabinet. Ghazali was the permanent secretary in the external affairs ministry.

Mageran was similar to a Cabinet, with council members assigned their portfolios.

Its main task was to restore law and order. With a curfew imposed and the army mobilised, it achieved its goal of re-establishing peace within months.

There were skirmishes here and there in the months after May 13, but the council quickly handled these, Chandra said.

Mageran had a hand in setting the nation’s social and economic course by establishing bodies such as the National Consultative Council (NCC) and National Goodwill Council.

The NCC, chaired by Razak, was composed of representatives of different communities, political parties, professional bodies, trade unions, business groups and others. Among its primary tasks was to work on an economic policy aimed at alleviating poverty, redistributing economic wealth and giving Bumiputeras a leg up.

The policy, which came to be known as the New Economic Policy (NEP), “sought to eradicate poverty regardless of ethnicity and to restructure society so that the identification of ethnicity with economic function would be reduced”, Chandra said.

The NCC also formulated the Rukun Negara in an attempt to forge unity among Malaysians for the sake of the country’s success and stability. It is a list of five principles and five national ambitions and it remains part of the national education system to this day.

Is there a need to revive Mageran? According to Chandra, it is not necessary because circumstances are now different despite the new proclamation of a state of emergency.

He said the emergency in 1969 was proclaimed over security reasons and Mageran was needed to restore the rule of law and prevent violence from escalating.

“The main reason Mageran was absolutely necessary was to handle the riots that had broken out,” he said. “We needed a body that could deal with the situation of security, violence, killings and so on.

“In the case of the state of emergency declared last January, it’s clearly a health emergency.”

Moreover, he said, there was no functioning cabinet during the riots since the general election had just concluded. This made it urgent for some form of governing body to be set up.

He noted that Muhyiddin Yassin already had a Cabinet in place.

The King will continue to meet political party leaders today before chairing a meeting with all the Malay rulers next Wednesday.