Opposition leader and PAS president Fadzil Noor today claimed that the police set fire to their own truck in the Kampung Bok, Kuala Ketil incident on Feb 10.

Speaking at a PAS ceramah (gathering) in Kelantan on Saturday evening, he said it was inconceivable for anyone to be able to burn a police vehicle in an area where the police had full supervision and control.

"If someone had set it afire, shouldnt he have been caught? Why isnt there any arrests yet?" Fadzil told the 4,000-strong crowd at the ceramah .

He said he was angered by the insinuations that the truck was burnt by PAS supporters who had acted violently when police disrupted their ceramah in Kedah.

"In a dialogue session with the Kedah CPO, the OCPD kept his silence throughout. We told them that if they accuse us of setting the fire, we can also turn around and accuse them back," said Fadzil, who had met the police in the presence of PAS lawyers.

"And what kind of fool is the Baling OCPD to allege that we brought acid in plastics bags to throw at them. Can plastic bags hold acid? And the OCPD also said that his skin itched after coming into contact with the acid. I must say, he has quite a hide. Even cowhide would dissolve when it comes into contact with acid, but he suffered a mere itch."

Fadzil however noted that the Kedah police have since shown flagging interest in disrupting PAS ceramah . "Thankfully, they have pretty much left us alone since the Kuala Ketil incident."

Memali clips

On the governments gusto in broadcasting the Memali clips over the local television networks, Fadzil, who is also the Kedah PAS commissioner, challenged the government to air the full version of the incident.

"Actually, the (selective) screening of the Memali clips only serve to show police brutality," he said.

He said that Ibrahim Libya's right-hand man, Yusoff Hussin, is still alive.

"Yusoff, in one of his ceramah last month, said that one of the policemen involved in the Memali operations eventually went to see him in order to seek forgiveness for the murders committed during the operations.

However, Yusoff told him that he should also apologise to all the relatives of those who died. Alternatively, the police officer could also go on record in a ceramah to testify (which he declined).

In the 1985 Memali incident, a total of 18 people, including Ibrahim, an ex-PAS electoral candidate, and four security forces, were killed following a violent standoff. The government had accused Ibrahim and his followers of deviant teaching.

"If the government want to tell the truth about Memali, then RTM should conduct an interview with Yusoff," said Fadzil, who also defended the Taliban regime's treatment of women by implying that all the negative publicity about their so-called ill-treatment of women are nothing more than Western propaganda.

"Prior to the US invasion, the Taliban had brought stability to almost 95 percent of Afghanistan. However, one needs to understand why they prevented womenfolk from leaving their homes (without being accompanied by a male relative).

"When the Taliban first took over Afghanistan, communist agents were still roaming the streets of Kabul, molesting, raping and robbing women. As such, the prohibition for women to leave their homes is for their own good."

Post-mortem reports

According to Kelantan PAS secretary, Wan Ismail Wan Jusoh, who spoke before Fadzil, the people involved in Memali were in a private property at that time, and merely defending themselves against "a force that was armed to the hilt".

"Is it necessary to use so much firepower against women and children? If these are considered bad people, then those who issued the order [for the police to attack] is surely the father of all badness,'' said Wan Ismail, who is also the Melor assemblyman.

"Did the authorities actually intended to arrest the people? If yes, is there a need for so much firepower? And when we took the issue to court, we have yet to hear anything about it until now."

Wan Ismail also challenged the authorities to reveal the post-mortem reports of the four policemen who died in the incident.

"One of those who died came from Pasir Mas. We shall see whether the bullets (in the body) are from police guns or Ibrahim Libya's shotgun. We can talk in detail about all these as (Information Minister) Khalil Yaakob [and de facto law minister Rais Yatim] has said that it is not sub judice .

"Given that it is not sub judice to comment on Memali, we will give our side of the story. They can air their clips, and we will give our ceramah ," said Wan Ismail, who also contended that it was actually Umno who helped fund the Islamic radicals.

Referring to the allegations by the deputy prime minister that a former cabinet minister had channeled US$10mil to a radical Islamic group in the US, Wan Ismail said that the said minister has to be an Umno minister as there is no way that he could be from PAS.

"As the payment was made while the minister was still in Umno, it should be read that it is Umno which should be held responsible."

Mohd Irfan Isa in malaysiakini 's Kelantan-based stringer