Mahathir launched Ops Lalang to neutralise Ku Li threatening his party position

Memories linger 34 years after Mahathir’s ISA swoop



On Oct 27, 1987, exactly 34 years ago, the nation was shaken to the core when the then prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, unleashed the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA).

In the resulting dragnet, more than 100 politicians and activists were hauled up with the prospect of facing 60 days of detention without trial to be likely followed by incarceration for two years at the Kamunting detention centre.

Among the big names were DAP leaders Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh and Lim’s son Guan Eng and activists Kua Kia Soong and Dr Chandra Muzaffar.

This was after a few months of public debate on the decision by education minister Anwar Ibrahim to send non-Chinese-trained teachers as senior assistants to Chinese schools and on other issues involving race and religion.

The swoop was called Ops Lalang and a white paper tabled in Parliament a year later stated that various groups had played up sensitive issues, creating racial tension in the country. It was pooh-poohed by many quarters, who called it a “whitewash”.

According to many leaders it was to cover the tensions within Umno. They said Mahathir was apparently losing his grip on Umno, with a group of leaders led by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah set to challenge him in the Umno polls.

Decades later, Mahathir denied responsibility for the swoop, saying inspector-general of police Haniff Omar was the one who ordered it. But many still see it as among the many moves he made to remain in power for another 16 years.

I was a correspondent in Taiping and was among hundreds of journalists who followed Ops Lalang closely. On the day it was launched, we joked that some of us would be picked up the next day. To my horror, on the morning of Oct 28, I received a phone call from my editor who told me with a laugh, “You can go on leave indefinitely. Take a break until Mahathir decides to reopen The Star. We have been shut down indefinitely because we are apparently a security threat.”

I found out later that Chinese daily Sin Chew and the Malay newspaper Watan had also been ordered to stop publishing. It appeared that the authorities decided to make it a multiracial affair. Even those arrested earlier were people of all races.

We were shaken, frustrated and angry not only because of the assault on press freedom but also because many of us had to start worrying about our mortgages and where our next meal was coming from.

There was no one to champion the cause of the detainees or that of the newspapers because there was just too much fear. The remaining newspapers, which were mainly government-owned or linked to political parties in the ruling Barisan Nasional, opted to remain silent, carrying mundane stories.

One story which I remember appearing in an English daily was of a group of multiracial Malaysians removing a tree which had fallen on a road.

Minister after minister started justifying Mahathir’s actions. There was no social media then to flood the citizenry with audio and video clips and to fight the government propaganda.

The anger and suffering that most of the affected journalists went through is unforgettable. If Mahathir and the police had called it a form of collateral damage then, let me tell them now that the scars of their injustice still remain in the hearts of many of us.

Some of those who had worked in the suspended newspapers had to cancel planned weddings, and families with both spouses working in the same company suffered the most. Many had to look for other sources of income, with a few becoming carpenters, hawkers or helpers in the family business.

Some fortunate ones who could travel left the country to work abroad and many of them eventually emigrated.

We learned who our true friends were. Some shunned us, worrying that any link with us was going to bring them down.

Mahathir revoked the suspension after five months, allowing us to breathe again. The government made it sound like it was doing us a favour. The newspapers returned with a whimper, being subservient to the government of the day from then on. And many still remain so.

It was news portal Malaysiakini that changed the battered local media landscape with its bold advent, shaking up the powers that be and leading the battle for a freer media. This led to the opening up of internet news ventures in many forms.

So on this 34th anniversary, I look back at the ISA swoop with anger at being punished without reason but also solace for being able to use that black day in Malaysian journalistic history to fight for a better nation.

Younger journalists would likely not know that it was a hard battle for us older journalists, with laws like the Printing Presses and Publications Act, the Official Secrets Act and the now-repealed ISA hanging over our heads. We were forced to censor ourselves.

With the news portals currently enjoying a fair bit of latitude in reporting events and publishing opinions, it’s best we do not rest on our laurels. While absolute freedom may not be ideal under the circumstances, it is vital to protect the freedom we currently have with responsibility and without fear.