Operation Lalang (Operasi Lalang) | |
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Location | |
Commanded by | Mohammed Hanif Omar |
Objective | to defuse racial tension that had reached "dangerous proportions" |
Date | 27 October 1987 | – 20 November 1987
Executed by | Malaysian Special Branch Royal Malaysian Police |
Outcome | 119 people arrested, suspension of four newspapers |
Casualties | None |
History of Malaysia |
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Prime Minister of Malaysia
Political parties UMNO (1964–2016)
Alliance Party (1964–1974) Related |
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Operation Lalang (Malay: Operasi Lalang, also called Ops Lalang and taken to mean "Operation Weeding") was a major crackdown undertaken by the Royal Malaysian Police from 27 October to 20 November 1987, ostensibly to prevent the occurrence of racial riots in Malaysia. The operation saw the arrest of 106 to 119 people—political activists, opposition politicians, intellectuals, students, artists, scientists and others—who were detained without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA). It was the second largest mass arrest in Malaysian history involving the ISA since the 13 May riots 18 years earlier. It also involved the revoking of the publishing licenses of two dailies, The Star and the Sin Chew Jit Poh and two weeklies, The Sunday Star and Watan.
The Malaysian government argued that racial tensions had reached a dangerous level within the country, forcing the government to arrest those responsible for stoking the tension. The notion that racial riots were imminent however is contested, and it is widely believed that the operation was designed to control the political opponents of the Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. The event marked the beginning of a period of Mahathir's authoritarian rule.