PAS has welcomed the government's preparedness to form a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the Memali incident in Kedah, which took place during Dr Mahathir Mohamad's tenure as prime minister.

On the same note, the Islamist party's deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man reminded the government to form an RCI on 1MDB as well.

He said the two RCIs were needed in order for in-depth investigations to be carried out and to ensure justice for all parties.

“PAS welcomes the government's preparedness to form an RCI to investigate the November 1985 Memali tragedy.

“It must also be reminded that PAS has demanded an RCI on 1MDB since 2015,” Tuan Ibrahim added in a media statement.

Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the government is prepared to form an RCI into the Memali incident, which saw the deaths of 18 people, including four police officers.

Meanwhile, PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan also welcomed the formation of an RCI on Memali.

Takiyuddin (photo) revealed that PAS has decided to form a special committee to look into the welfare of the victims of the incident, which would be headed by vice-president Idris Ahmad.

He added that the party would also form a legal team to provide assistance to the next of kin of the victims.

Among others, Takiyuddin said, the special committee would arrange for the next of kin to meet with Zahid to present an official request to form an RCI on Memali.

At present, an RCI is probing another episode from Mahathir's tenure, which is the Bank Negara foreign exchange losses, which occurred in the 1990s.

Mahathir and the opposition have claimed that the Forex RCI is politically motivated and an attempt by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's administration to deflect attention from 1MDB.

The spotlight landed on Memali following last Sunday's Nothing to Hide 2.0 forum, at which a fracas erupted when Mahathir was answering a question on the tragedy in Kedah.