KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today told the High Court that he had changed his views about Bersih 2.0’s mass rallies being violent, after attending the two latest rallies — Bersih 4 and Bersih 5 — that he said were peaceful.
Dr Mahathir, who was ordered to be a witness in a court hearing, confirmed that he had made various statements previously that described the Bersih 3 rally in 2012 as “violent” and an indication that the federal opposition was prepared to create chaos through demonstrations if it failed to win the 13th general elections.
But the former prime minister also said today that his 2012 remarks regarding the federal opposition’s readiness to create chaos through protests was “my opinion at that time”.
“From my information and advice that I received from the police that most likely there will be chaos created. Based on that advice, at that time, I made the statement,” he later clarified in court.
Dr Mahathir was testifying as a witness that was subpoenaed or ordered to appear in Datuk Seri Jamal Yunos’s defence in the defamation lawsuit filed by then Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah.
When asked by Maria’s lawyer N. Surendran, Dr Mahathir confirmed that he had attended the Bersih 4 rally.
“I found that the situation then appeared calm,” he said.
“When I found that they didn’t spark chaos and they were prepared to the point of picking up rubbish,” he had said regarding his changed views following his observation of the Bersih 4 rally.
Later when asked by Jamal’s lawyer Mohammed Nasser Yusof, Dr Mahathir agreed that he had changed his opinion about Bersih 2.0.
“Yes, it has changed after I joined the Bersih 5 rally where I found its leaders and participants did not show a tendency towards violence,” he said.
The Bersih 3 rally was held on April 28, 2012, while the Bersih 4 and Bersih 5 rallies were held on August 29-30, 2015 and November 19, 2016.
When replying on questions related to his previous views on Bersih rallies, Dr Mahathir was referred by Jamal’s defence lawyer to three articles — May 5, 2012 report by Free Malaysia Today and a May 26, 2012 blog posting by Lim Kit Siang which had both cited Dr Mahathir’s blog; as well as a May 2012 report citing Dr Mahathir’s remarks as reported by Bernama.
Earlier during the hearing, Dr Mahathir said he was the Home Minister in 1987 and that the Home Ministry had then “launched an action on those who threatened national security and peace through Operasi Lalang”.
“Operasi Lalang was launched to prevent riots from happening in the country,” he said when speaking of the government crackdown where 106 individuals were arrested and detained without trial under the now-abolished Internal Security Act (ISA).
Dr Mahathir also confirmed that the Home Ministry which he headed then had tabled a White Paper in Parliament.
In an excerpt of the White Paper titled “Towards Preserving National Security” that was tabled in March 1988 and which was read out in court, it was stated that the Communist Party of Malaya (PKM) had tried to revive militant activities among students, especially Malay students.
The excerpt that was read out said the PKM secretary-general Chin Peng had held a secret meeting with two “radical Malay students” namely Hishamuddin Rais and Mohd Yunus Lebai Ali in Beijing in January 1980 where he proposed an armed Malay group independent from the PKM but with the latter to provide initial training and logistic support.
Dr Mahathir had testified that the Malaysian government had considered the PKM to be a terrorist organisation.
When asked regarding the individual named Mohd Yunus Lebai Ali, Dr Mahathir said he only knew about Hishammudin.
Pressed on Mohd Yunus’s detention under ISA for several years, Dr Mahathir replied that he had then acted on the advice of and information from the police — typically the Special Branch.
It was not made clear during hearing today of the relevance of the White Paper excerpt to the case, but Mohd Yunus Lebai Ali refers to the late husband of Maria.
The defamation hearing before High Court judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab resumes tomorrow morning, when Jamal is due to testify in his own defence.
Later when met outside the courtroom, Mohammed Nasser told reporters that a student activist in the 1970s — Hassan Karim — will be called to testify tomorrow afternoon and that the police will be testifying this Friday.
Mohammed Nasser also said that his client has applied to the High Court to call in two additional witnesses to testify regarding the White Paper’s contents, namely Tun Mohammed Hanif Omar, who was Inspector-General of Police (IGP) during the 1974-1994 period, and ex-IGP Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Mohd Noor, who was the head of Bukit Aman’s Secret Branch during 1986-1989.
Maria had as the Bersih chair then filed the defamation lawsuit on October 7, 2016, saying that Jamal had made defamatory remarks on September 28 and October 4 the same year by allegedly claiming that the Bersih 2.0 movement was infiltrated by the terrorist group Islamic State (IS).
Jamal had also allegedly accused the Bersih 2.0 group of plotting to surround two international airports and key government buildings.
