LETTER | The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) refers to the purported controversy surrounding Lim Guan Eng’s statement relating to non-Muslim rights in Malaysia.

This controversy should be interpreted in the context of many statements made by PAS and Umno relating to non-Muslims rights. The persistent stand of PAS is that Malaysia must be governed by Islam as practised and implemented some 1,400 years ago, in the seventh century.

Nik Abduh, who was earlier PAS youth chief, had stated that the present laws bow down to the Federal Constitution whose powers exceed the sovereignty of Koran and is thus against Islam and is obviously in idolatry. Thus, here PAS clearly aspires for an Islamic theocratic state which is unconstitutional. They want religious law to be higher than the constitution.

Recently, in December 2017, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had said that “Malaysia must be led by a Muslim. Islam mandates that a head of government and his cabinet members are those who profess the religion of Islam and must be from the most influential race”.

Then again, Nazri Abdul Aziz, the former BN secretary-general had said during campaigning at the recently concluded Semenyih by-election that non-Muslims cannot hold the posts of chief justice, attorney-general and finance minister. Nazri is, thus, also espousing Islamic state principles which are clearly against the spirit of the constitution.

We quote - “It has been reported that during the Semenyih by-election, some politicians questioned the appointment of non-Malays to the posts of chief justice, attorney-general and finance minister. First, there is nothing in the constitution to bar a non-Malay from holding any official position within the administration, Parliament or the judiciary”. - Prof. Shad Faruqi

From the above, it is clear, that PAS and Nazri have made statements which question the rights of non-Malays. Their statements are clearly unconstitutional and seditious in nature.

In fact, when MCCBCHST leaders when met the meeting Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed on Jan 11 and had expressed concern about statements by PAS that questioned the rights of non-Muslims, the prime minister had assured MCCBCHST that the Pakatan Harapan government will be sensitive to all religions and follow and abide by the Federal Constitution and rule of law.

Thus, clearly, PAS and Umno had made statements that are unconstitutional and seditious. The government should warn everyone against making such seditious remarks which have the tendency to question the rights of others. If there is enough evidence to charge them in court this should be done accordingly.

The MCCBCHST appeals to all Malaysians to unite under the Federal Constitution and the rule of law. Our country has remained united and accepted diversity as enshrined in the Rukun Negara. The challenges in the modern day are many and the world is moving fast ahead. We should unite to face the many challenges ahead arising from globalisation and modernisation and not seek to divide one another

The above is signed by:

RS Mohan Shanmugam
MCCBCHST president,

Archbishop Julian Leow Beng Kim
MCCBCHST deputy president,

Sardar Jagir Singh
MCCBCHST vice-president,

DaoZhang Tan Hoe Chieow
MCCBCHST vice president, and

Venerable Sing Kan
MCCBCHST vice president.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.