Dirty Tricks Department and the 1969 elections — Ahmad Mustapha Hassan

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Mar 9, 2013

In Kelantan, we had to identify PMIP strongholds and what tactics had to be used to curtail their influence and if possible to isolate these areas in a way that would stop them from being able to come out and vote. In the plan, suggestions were put that communication to and from these villages be cut off during election time — destroy bridges for example.

By the year 1965, I had completed five years service with the Kedah state government, the minimum period of service for state scholarship holders. I was therefore free to leave the service. I applied for a post at the Ministry of External Affairs and was accepted. I wanted national and international exposure. My last post in Kedah was as Secretary of the Sungai Petani Town Council which also involved overseeing all local councils in the District of Kuala Muda.

I had to undergo an interview with a Special Branch officer to get clearance to join the service. Although I got through the security screening, I did not join the service as I was persuaded to become the Political Secretary to Senu Abdul Rahman who was then the Minister of Information and Broadcasting.

It was a challenging job as not only had I to do political work for the minister, I was also at the same time doing some press work, writing for the Department of Information bulletin and also for Radio talks.

I was also elected to the Umno Youth central executive committee. The Umno Youth leader was my minister Senu Abdul Rahman and the deputy was Ali Haji Ahmad, my senior at the University of Malaya in Singapore.

I was tasked by Umno Youth to take part in various workshops to prepare the youth members for work in promoting government policies and agenda and also to prepare them for the general election. They should be well prepared to answer questions from the public on what the government was doing.

We targeted Kelantan in our political work as the PMIP was strong there. Most workshops were held there. During that period of time, we were not paid by the party to carry out these activities nor could we claim from the Ministry for doing outside jobs. We had therefore to carry out some ministry work in order to justify our claims. As political secretaries we were paid in total RM1,350 a month.

Thus the foundation for dirty tricks department was established. This department grew and grew till today and used tactics as dirty as they possibly could be. The current RCI in Sabah has given some insight into what could be achieved.

Mostly, the political work had been concentrated in the rural areas as Umno feared that the rural population would turn to PMIP as religious issues were being used as bait to attract support. Umno had been very secular and urbane during this period of time.

The lifestyle had been very liberal. Almost at every function, drinks were liberally served and the “joget’ was a very popular form of dance. There was much gaiety and merry-making at all these functions.

Preparations were more or less progressing well towards achieving victory for the ‘69 elections. Prospective candidates for the State and Parliamentary constituencies were being finalised.