COMMENT | The 30th anniversary of Ops Lalang has rightly generated much discussion about a dark chapter in our history when 106 of our fellow citizens were unjustly arrested and detained under the ISA.

As a nation, we need to hear again the personal accounts of the detainees and their families. We need to confront the injustices of the past, if only to remind ourselves of the unfinished task of building a more just and democratic nation.

At the time, the government offered various reasons for the arrests, including the need to forestall imminent racial riots. We know now that it was nothing but a sideshow to forestall a challenge to Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s rule from within his own party and to subdue opposition from without.

And if racial tension had reached alarming levels, it was because the government then, as it still does today, sought to manipulate racial and religious issues to serve its own ends.

As prime minister and home minister at the time, Mahathir must assume ultimate responsibility for Ops Lalang. The then inspector-general of police (IGP) was simply a willing accomplice, nothing more. To argue otherwise is both dishonest and disingenuous.

Mahathir may now concede that many of those who were detained were good people that he had simply demonised them for political purposes - but it is not enough. He should take personal responsibility and apologise to each and every detainee for the injustice he visited upon them.

Mahathir today is, of course, not the same man he was 30 years ago. He is now part of the political struggle for change and, though he is loathe to admit it, he is working to undo much of the damage that he himself inflicted upon our nation. I hope he will rise to the occasion by doing what is right.

Some have argued that insisting on an apology from Mahathir would simply detract from the on-going efforts against Umno-BN.

On the contrary, an apology would immensely strengthen those efforts. It would also reaffirm that the struggle we are embarked upon is not simply about ousting an unpopular government at the next general election but about building a more just and democratic nation.

A national apology

Umno-BN’s current leaders are no doubt relishing the fact that Mahathir is being taken to task over Ops Lalang but they should not be too smug. Some of those currently in the government collaborated with, acquiesced or defended Mahathir’s actions 30 years ago.

Prime Minister Najib Razak, for example, was Umno Youth chief at the time and did his share of sabre-rattling in support of Mahathir. Other BN parties, for their part, never challenged Mahathir’s narrative or protested the mass arrests.

And besides, if those in authority today disagree with Mahathir’s action, they have it in their power to set things right by issuing, on behalf of the government, a public apology to all those who were detained during Ops Lalang and awarding them appropriate compensation for the wrong that was done them.

After all, it was done for the judges whose removal from office Mahathir contemptuously engineered during the 1988 judicial crisis; there’s no reason why it cannot be done for the victims of Ops Lalang as well. It’s the honourable thing to do if there is still any honour left to be found in this government.

Other countries – South Africa, Chile, Argentina, to name a few – have taken courageous steps to confront their dark past through an open accounting of the wrongs that were done. It’s time for us to do the same with Ops Lalang. It is the only way to bring closure to this dark episode in our history and a measure of comfort to those who were so badly wronged in 1987.

Dismay and remorse

The other point that is worth remembering, as we mark the 30th anniversary of Ops Lalang, is that undemocratic rulers only succeed when there are people who go along with what’s morally wrong in order to get along, who bend their knees to what their heart denies, who turn away from the truth because it is inconvenient or who simply “menurut perintah” (follow orders), regardless of conscience or consequence.

I was political counsellor at the Malaysian Embassy in Washington DC when Ops Lalang took place. We were deluged by protests from concerned US politicians and civil society groups and it fell to me and my colleagues to defend the government’s actions, unwittingly repeating the falsehoods about racial tension, Marxist agitators and threats to our democracy and stability.

Now, whenever I hear the stories about how even women were tortured and mentally abused while in detention, how those in power manipulated events and people for political expediency, I am filled with dismay and remorse that I was part of the machinery that caused the detainees and their families so much anguish.

The truth is it’s not just Mahathir who is culpable but the entire machinery of government, the judiciary, the police and the politicians; they may not have given the orders but they stood by and watched it happen, or worse still, allowed themselves to be used in one way or another.

To paraphrase a well-worn quote, evil triumphs when ordinary people do nothing in the face of injustice.

The Ops Lalang detainees have modelled for us courage and determination in the face of injustice and tyranny. Years later, many remain committed and active, undeterred by their ordeal.

It is now up to us to be inspired by their example and continue the unfinished struggle for justice and democracy in Malaysia.

DENNIS IGNATIUS, a former Malaysian ambassador, firmly believes that we should put our trust not in the leadership of politicians but in the sanctity of great institutions - our secular and democratic constitution, a democratically-elected Parliament, an independent judiciary, a free press and a government fully accountable to the people. He blogs here.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.