Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has declined to answer any further questions about the possibility of forming a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the Memali incident, despite having mooted the idea earlier.

Instead, Zahid, who is also the home minister, said there would be a special press conference held later on forming such an RCI.

“There will be a special press conference later,” he said before leaving the Mines Convention Centre in Seri Kembangan after officiating the Halal Festival 2017.

He was responding to a question about an RCI to investigate the Memali incident which happened in November 1985.

Zahid had first brought up the idea of forming an RCI on the Memali incident in a statement posted on his Twitter last Sunday.

“The government is ready to consider the setting up of a Memali RCI if there are any quarters who request or propose for it, in the interest of the victims of the incident,” he had said then.

Before that, PAS had also called for an RCI to look into the incident.

The Memali incident was a clash between the police force and an Islamic sect in 1985, which resulted in the death of 18 people, including four police officers.

The issue returned to the limelight after chaos broke out during the "Nothing to Hide 2" forum when an audience member asked former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad questions about Memali.