Muslim PM only if Muslims unite, says Dr M
(The Malaysian Insider) – Muslims must be united to continue having a prime minister of the faith as Malaysian law makes no provisions to do so, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed said today.
“We hope that Muslims here, at least in this, get to decide on the PM because they are the majority.
“If they are split, then we cannot do anything,” he told reporters today.
The former prime minister said that there was nothing within the Federal Constitution which barred a non-Muslim PM from taking public office.
“It’s up to Malaysians, if they do not want to choose a Muslim PM, you’ll get a non-Muslim one,” he explained.
Law expert Prof Abdul Aziz Bari said earlier today that the Federal Constitution does not require a Muslim prime minister to helm the government, and any such provision would be against Malaysia’s laws of equality.
Aziz was responding to a statement made yesterday by lawyer Datuk Zainal Rejal who had charged that the prime minister must be a Muslim, even though there are no legal provisions as to the race or ethnicity of the PM in the Constitution.
Zainal, who was a speaker at a forum organised by The Muslim Organisations in Defence of Islam (Pembela), said a non-Muslim prime minister would not be able to advise the Yang diPertuan Agong on Islamic matters.
“The PM must be a Muslim. Or else he cannot advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Islamic matters … how can you have a non-Muslim advise the Agong on Islamic matters?” Zainal had said.
In response, Aziz said that the only way the current provision could be amended was through a two-thirds majority vote in Parliament.
The constitutional expert explained that there was no need for the prime minister to be a Muslim because Islam was a matter of the state and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is not the head of Islam for the entire federation.
