Malaysia in 1983: A Time of Troubles

Abstract

Several unusual occurrences, important policy initiatives, and a major constitutional crisis characterized Malaysia in 1983. In the first category were three legal proceedings involving government ministers. Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Mokhtar Hashim was sentenced to death for the murder of a local UMNO (United Malays National Organization) rival. The appeals court upheld the sentence and Mokhtar will be hanged unless the king grants him clemency. The second incident concerned Foreign Minister Tan Sri Ghazali Shafie. On January 10, 1982, Ghazali, his aide-de-camp, and copilot Vergis Chacko (the Royal Selangor Flying Club's chief instructor) crashed in a light plane on a short domestic flight. Ghazali's companions were killed, but the Foreign Minister miraculously survived virtually unscratched. A four-month investigation by the coroner's court held that the accident resulted from pilot negligence and that Ghazali, a licensed pilot, had been at the controls, although he maintained he had handed them to Chacko before the crash. It seemed for a time that the verdict might force Ghazali's resignation, especially since he owed his position more to long and effective service than to the support of either the UMNO rank-and-file or Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. However, Ghazali gave no indication that he contemplated such a step, and his colleagues made no overt move against him. At year's end the incident seemed forgotten. The third court case stemmed from a dispute between two leaders of the MIC (Malaysian Indian Congress), the ruling coalition's Indian party. Party president Datuk Samy Vellu, who is also Minister of Works, spearheaded a move to suspend for one year his former protege, V. Govindaraj, who is head of the MIC's Selangor branch and one of three MIC vice-presidents. The MIC's General Assembly agreed to the