The claim by former deputy prime minister Musa Hitam that his boss, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was at the time of the Memali incident in November 1985 at home and not abroad is a matter of reverberating significance.

What Musa's motives are for making such a claim - and that, too, almost 29 years after the incident - are not as important as the truth of the claim in itself.

We can expect that the combative former prime minister will respond with alacrity to Musa's claims which were made at a forum in Kota Bharu on Thursday night.

It would be interesting what Mahathir says in response to Musa's claims because the latter is not someone given to irresponsible statement.

Musa is not known to be inventive with the truth but he is not known to be elucidating either...