东姑拉沙里
The crackdown happened against a backdrop in late 1986 and 1987 of a split within UMNO into two opposing groups, commonly referred to as Team A led by Mahathir, and Team B led by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Musa Hitam. Mahathir was challenged for the leadership and narrowly won, but faced a subsequent legal challenge on his win.