Hadi: PAS accepts Dr M's apology over Memali incident

KUALA TERENGGANU: PAS has forgiven former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who apologised to the families of the 14 killed in the 1985 Memali incident after labelling their deaths as "mati katak" (dying in vain).

"We accept his apology," said PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang (pic) when met at a chat session as part of his GE14 campaign trail on Friday.

However, Abdul Hadi maintained that the dead died as para syuhada or martyrs.

He said Dr Mahathir had "terlanjur" (gone overboard) when talking about the incident at a ceramah in Pantai Dalam, Kuala Lumpur on Thursday (May 3).

He said that Muslim scholars had long agreed that those who died at Memali were honoured as martyrs.

"This is because the Government admitted that they made a mistake in handling the situation," he said.

Abdul Hadi explained that in Islam, there are many ways for a person to be regarded as a martyr.

"Even if they died in an accident, buried alive or drowned, they can be regarded as martyrs," he said.

The Memali incident happened after police wanted to arrest Ustaz Ibrahim Mahmud a.k.a Ibrahim Libya under the Internal Securities Act.

Villagers in Kampung Memali in Kedah, who revered the religious teacher, had vowed to protect him from being arrested.

The incident left 14 villagers and four policemen dead.