Posted on 03/11/2004 6:00:17 PM PST by Land_of_Lincoln_John
KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 (IslamOnline.net) - Only a Muslim should be Malaysia’s Prime Minister, the head of the Party Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) said Wednesday, March 10, in a statement that is bound to create havoc until voting day on March 21.
PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang called, during a press conference in Terengganu, for the Federal Constitution of Malaysia to be amended to allow “only a Muslim” to be appointed as the country's prime ministers.
The amendment was necessary to correct some ambiguities that were left behind during the days of the drafting of the constitution, the PAS said in a press release.
The party argues that the former regimes in Malaysia did not make the “necessary changes” in the constitution to ensure that only a Muslim be appointed premier of the country.
It added that since the independence of Malaysia, it has been agreed by all political parties that only a Muslim should be Premier, though some attempts were made in the past by some ‘quarters’ to make it look differently.
The PAS leader on the other hand made it clear that the existing provisions allowed a leader from any political party to become a prime minister, be the leader a Muslim or not.
As such, he said the Constitution did not reflect Malaysia as an Islamic state hence came his call for a change in the constitution. However, he added that the party will not include this change in constitution in the party’s manifesto for the 11th General Elections.
"The Constitution does not reflect Islam. They (National Front leaders) did not amend the Constitution since it was drawn up by the Reid Commission. Other amendments were made".
"That the prime minister among others should be a Muslim, they did not. The prime minister could be anyone under the current provisions,” he said in Terengganu where he is the Chief Minister.
He also said a Chinese could hold the post provided he was a Muslim as it was not allowed under the principles of an Islamic state, to have a non-Muslim as Prime Minister.
Malaysia follows the Westminster style of Parliament and has a British style of government with a Prime Minister who runs the affairs of the government while the head of state is the King of Malaysia. The country also has provisions for an opposition leader.
Expanding on why Malaysia should allow only Muslims to be Prime Minister, which is the highest executive post in Malaysia, the PAS leader explained that some countries allowed only Catholics or Protestants to be leader.
"Some European countries only allow Catholics or Protestants to become president of the country," he said.
However, he said non-Muslims could be appointed as ministers or chief ministers.
Under Article 43 (1) of the Federal Constitution, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or the King of Malaysia is required to appoint a cabinet of ministers to advise him in the exercise of his functions as head of state.
Under Article 43 (2) (a), he is required first to appoint a prime minister to preside over the cabinet. The express condition is that the PM must be a member of the Dewan Rakyat who in the judgment of the King is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Dewan (Parliament).
Elections
“It is unlikely that his statement will be attacked by any parties in these elections since this is an agreement that was reached by all communities and parties in this country prior to the Independence of Malaysia,” said Dr Azman Yacub, who is the PAS Parliamentary Member for Kuala Terengganu when he spoke to IOL on Wednesday.
He said that the governing Malay party the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) was not in a position to criticize Hadi Awang on this issue since they will not benefit from it.
“Any criticism by UMNO or any party will mean that they are not interested in consolidating the powers of the Malays in Malaysia,” Majid Abdul, a political scientist working for a private firm in Kuala Lumpur told IOL.
Azman shared his views in the sense that it was in the interest of the Muslims in Malaysia that the Prime Minister must be a Muslim.
The PAS MP said that the election campaigns were going on well in Terengganu, where the PAS controls the state since 1999 and he that he was assured of a comfortable victory for his party in the 2004 polls.
He added that the PAS was targeting another state Kedah, besides Kelantan which it already controls since 1990, and that it was certain of a good result in Kedah.
Abdul Hadi also said PAS was working towards winning all the state and parliamentary seats in Terengganu.
He said the party was confident of being re-elected to power in the 11th general election in spite of the NF’s optimism of capturing 28 out of 32 state seats.
On the other hand, Minister of Defense Najib Tun Razak said the PAS was under increasing pressure to look for issues in this election and it is hoping for the NF to outburst when responding to any issue that is being raised.
"They have no set targets this time, and so are trying to provoke us so that we will burst out and our response can be used as election issues," he said.
The freshly appointed Deputy Prime Minister said the calm attitude and moderation displayed by NF leaders had made it difficult for PAS to attack them.
"I think if the NF leaders continue to be calm and not fall into the PAS trap, PAS cannot draw public attention to itself," he said.
He added that the problem with PAS was an issue-oriented party compared to UMNO and the NF which implemented policies to bring about changes among Muslims and Malaysians as a whole.
"We are not living on issues. We are doing something good for the people," he said.
Najib also said UMNO had never rejected the Hudud Law as it was the law of Allah.
"However the implementation of Hudud Law should be based on appropriate situation, providing for its full enforcement," he said.
He said the important thing was, it should be enforced to uphold justice adding that the government was just responding to criticism by the PAS on the Hudud issue.
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