Operation Lalang

1987 Malaysian police crackdown

Operation Lalang (, also called Ops Lalang and taken to mean "Operation Weeding") was a major crackdown undertaken by the Royal Malaysian Police from 27 October to 20 November 1987, ostensibly to prevent the occurrence of racial riots in Malaysia. The operation saw the arrest of 106 to 119 people—political activists, opposition politicians, intellectuals, students, artists, scientists and others—who were detained without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA). It was the second largest swoop in Malaysian history involving the ISA since the 13 May riots 18 years earlier. It also involved the revoking of the publishing licenses of two dailies, The Star and the Sin Chew Jit Poh and two weeklies, The Sunday Star and Watan. The Malaysian government argued that racial tensions had reached a dangerous level within the country, forcing the government to arrest those responsible for stoking the tension. The notion that racial riots were imminent however is contested, and it is widely believed that the operation was designed to control the political opponents of the Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad through draconian measures. The event marked the beginning of a period of Mahathir's authoritarian rule on the country.

A number of political developments and issues preceding the operation had caused mounting political and racial tensions in the country. According to the Malaysian government's White paper explaining the arrests, various groups had exploited the government's "liberal" and "tolerant" attitude and played up "sensitive issues", thereby creating racial tension in the country. This racial tension, the government said, forced the government to act "swiftly and firmly" to contain the situation.

The crackdown happened against a backdrop in late 1986 and 1987 of a split within UMNO into two opposing groups, commonly referred to as Team A led by Mahathir, and Team B led by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Musa Hitam. Mahathir was challenged for the leadership and narrowly won, but faced a subsequent legal challenge on his win. There were also attacks by the government on several non governmental organizations (NGO) which were critical of various government policies. Mahathir called these "intellectual elites" as "tools of foreign powers" and saboteurs of democracy. In addition, a number of race and religion related issues had arisen which had a cumulative effect in raising ethnic tension. These included the switch to Malay language as a medium of instruction for optional courses in the departments of Chinese and Tamil studies at the University of Malaya, the use of Chinese characters in certain signboards, the questioning by the deputy president of Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) Lee Kim Sai over the use of the term pendatang (immigrants) that was seen as challenging Malay's bumiputra status, as well as rumours of forced conversion to or from Islam.

The immediate cause, however, was the Ministry of Education's decision to appoint some 100 senior assistants and supervisors to Chinese medium primary schools. The boycott was called off at the eleventh hour to allow time for the government to resolve the issue, nevertheless 57 schools went ahead with the strike on 15 October, either because they did not receive the notice of postponement, or they disagreed with the decision.

Even though the boycott was officially postponed, the stage was set for a response from the Malays led by UMNO Youth. A mass rally of 10,000 was held at the TPCA Stadium on Jalan Raja Muda in Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur on 17 October. Many Chinese businesses around the city was closed for a few days for fear of any potential attacks from the Malay ultra nationalists.

To make matters worse, a tinder box situation was created by an unrelated event on 18 October – the rampage of a Malay soldier, widely known as 'Prebet Adam', who killed a Malay and injuring two other persons with an M16 rifle in the Chow Kit area, which straddles two large Chinese and Malay communities.

While the Prime Minister Mahathir was away abroad, Sanusi Junid, the UMNO party secretary general, and other UMNO leaders called for the holding of a mammoth rally in Kuala Lumpur on 1 November to celebrate its 41st Anniversary. The rally was originally to be held in Johor Bahru but later changed to Kuala Lumpur, where UMNO leaders claimed would see the attendance of half a million members. The rally was cancelled after the Prime Minister returned and Operation Lalang was launched. The proposed UMNO rally was given as one of the reasons by the Inspector General of Police for the 27 October crackdown under the Internal Security Act. It was argued that had the rally been held, it could have sparked off racial riots given the likely incendiary nature of the speeches of UMNO politicians. It has also been argued that the Prime Minister had to have a quid pro quo for cancelling the UMNO rally, therefore opposition leaders and civil libertarians were arrested in order to placate the disappointed would be rally participants. The arrests were staggered – 19 people were detained on 27 October 1987, rising to 54 10pm the next day, and later the night, the tally grew to 63. By 20 November 1987, 106 had been arrested. The MCA deputy president Lee Kim Sai had apparently been warned beforehand and he left for Australia for a few months the day the arrests began. Of the politicians arrested, three were UMNO members, eight MCA, five Gerakan, fifteen PAS, sixteen DAP, and two PSRM. The three UMNO members arrested were closely associated with Mahathir's rivals called Team B, even though the UMNO's rallies were supported and initiated by Mahathir's allies (a further UMNO member who was a Mahathir's ally was said to have been detained for an unrelated reason). The UMNO, MCA and Gerakan detainees were released within two months, while most of those from the opposition parties and NGOs were detained much longer. A categorisation of the initially named detainees, numbering 97, gives the following breakdown: political parties: 37; social movements: 23; individuals: 37. Although most of the detainees were released either conditionally or unconditionally, 49 were served with a two year detention order, and the last one was freed in April 1989. Those who were detained longer included Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh plus five other party colleagues, a number of PAS members including Mohamad Sabu, and many social activists such as Tuang Pik King and Mohd Nasir Hashim. Some of the prisoners detained during Operation Lalang were alleged to have been tortured during their captivity.

In the afternoon the day following the first arrests, the Home Ministry withdrew the licences of the English language newspapers The Star and Sunday Star, the Chinese language Sin Chew Jit Poh, and the Malay language Watan. The Star was claimed to have being targeted as it had served as an outlet for alternative views from non established groups as well as dissident opinions from Mahathir's rival Team B, The Star itself, after its return, never regained its previous 'liberal flavour'. The Printing Presses and Publications Act was amended to make printers and publishers re apply their licences annually, and established an ouster clause preventing any revocation of license by the Home Affairs Minister from being called into question by the courts. A new criminal offence of "maliciously publishing false news" which carries a three year jail sentence and/or fines was also added. The Act was subsequently amended in 2012 to remove the requirement for annual licence application and the government's 'absolute discretion' over permits, and reinstated judicial overview. It required that any assembly of more than five people in a public area to obtain a police permit 14 days before the assembly. The law also prohibited public rallies for electoral campaigns, and only allowed ceramah (public lecture) by the political parties which would also require a permit. It made it practically impossible to hold any political meeting, including a party's annual general meeting, without a police permit. A conviction could mean a fine of RM10,000 and a jail term of one year. According to Dr Mahathir, the amendments to the Police Act and the Printing Presses and Publications Act were aimed at individuals and groups who abused the government's liberal attitudes: "Being liberal to them is like offering a flower to a monkey. The monkey would rather tear the flower apart than appreciate its beauty".

Operation Lalang is a major event in Mahathir's administration that had a strong impact on civil liberties in Malaysia, and it was seen as an excuse by the Mahathir government to tighten the executive hold by restricting fundamental liberties. To the opposition parties, Operation Lalang came to symbolise 'injustice' and government 'oppression'. The first Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, commenting on Operation Lalang, said that: "We are on the road to dictatorship. I cannot see any other way This is no democracy." The operation is seen as the beginning of Mahathir's authoritarian rule which continued with the sacking of Supreme Court judges in the 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis the following year. Although Operation Lalang was ostensibly undertaken for reason of national security, it is also widely seen by commentators as a show of force by Mahathir against his political challengers. The operation created considerable fear inside and outside UMNO. Dr Mahathir later expressed regret in his memoir about the severity of Operation Lalang, but suggested that it was the result of a recommendation of strong action by the police. He said that the government response had probably been "excessive and disproportionate", and that the operation was a "permanent blot on my time in office" and "a black mark in the administrative history of Malaysia". But, he added, "I had to suppress my own personal doubts and feelings. I had to recognize the role and expertise of the police and defer to their exercising their appointed role in our system of government."