ABSTRACT
In October, 1987 Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed launched an intensive police action codenamed Operasi Lalang, or Operation Tall Grass. Under the aegis of the Internal Security Act and other legislation that granted the government wide powers of search and seizure, security forces rounded up 119 individuals accused of subverting political stability by actively discussing ethnic issues that could inflame communal tensions. The arrests came on the heels of a dramatic fissure within the United Malay National Organization (UMNO) that cleaved the dominant party into two camps, one headed by Mahathir and the other led by Tungku Hamzah Razaleigh, the man who delivered Kelantan state to UMNO in the previous election – no mean feat given Kelantan’s record of voting for PAS1 in past elections. For the first time in more than a decade, UMNO’s traditional public mask of unity was cast aside, allowing the public an opportunity to observe the contentious inner workings of the party that had dominated Malaysian politics since its independence 30 years previously.
