KUALA LUMPUR — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has agreed in principle to support Perikatan Nasional (PN) for the six state elections in August, coalition chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today.
The former PM said he met with his immediate predecessor in a “respectful and cordial” meeting yesterday, during which they came to the agreement.
“We spoke at length about the position and future of the Malays without going into specifics about the Malay Proclamation.
“In principle we have agreed to strengthen the unity of Malays and to increase support for PN for the upcoming state elections in six states,” Muhyiddin said in a Facebook post.
Muhyddin was also the PM replacing Dr Mahathir, who was then expelled from Bersatu shortly after.
Dr Mahathir began pushing his “Malay Proclamation” earlier this year, after losing his deposit during the 15th general election, and has sought to hold a gathering to rally the community into realising the issues they are facing.
He has accused Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s administration of bias against the Malays by discouraging talks about race and religion and sought to contest.
In April, Dr Mahathir began making overtures towards Islamist party PAS, a partner to Bersatu in the PN coalition, before saying last month that he would be willing to work with Muhyiddin if they could find common ground after their previous falling out. MM
Deputy law minister: Dr Mahathir’s remarks lack legal basis, Federal Constitution reflects Malaysia as multiracial, multireligious
The deputy minister overseeing the law and institutional reform portfolio added that the former two-time prime minister’s tweets two days ago that the Constitution never mentioned Malaysia as a multiracial country has no legal basis.
Dr Mahathir had also claimed on Twitter that DAP has a manifesto to make Malaysia into a multiracial and secular country without an official religion.
To this, Ramkarpal said that Islam’s position as the official religion of Malaysia has never been disputed.
“This means, the existence of Article 3 of the Federal Constitution proves that Malaysia is a country composed of various races, culture and religion,” the Bukit Gelugor MP said in a statement.
He also cited a Federal Court ruling in 2022 — Dhinesh Tanaphll v Lembaga Pencegahan Jenayah & Ors — in which the judges noted that Article 3 is part of the “basic structure” of the Constitution, and that Parliament cannot amend these fundamental provisions as doing so “would be unconstitutional”.
Apart from Article 3, Ramkarpal said Article 8 prohibits any discrimination towards any Malaysian purely on religion, race, descent, place of birth or gender except as expressly authorised by the Constitution, while Article 11 also gives every person to profess and practise his religion.
“All the Federal Constitution provisions above, when read together, reflects the recognition that Malaysia is a country that is multiracial, multicultural and multireligious,” he said.
Ramkarpal said Dr Mahathir had recognised and never disputed Malaysia’s status as a multiracial country throughout his 23 years of being a prime minister in the past, and said the latter’s recent remarks were regrettable.
Ramkarpal said Dr Mahathir would have access to legal advice through the attorney-general when he was prime minister for more than two decades and he should be aware of the legal position on this issue.
“In such a situation, it is clear that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad would be aware that his statement has no basis at all,” he said.
Ramkarpal said Dr Mahathir should as a senior “statesman” realise the importance of the phrase “unity in diversity should be our strength and not our shame” in Malaysia.
He credited the phrase to then Federal Court judge Tan Sri Zainun Ali in her 2018 judgment in the high-profile case of Hindu mother M. Indira Gandhi who sought the return of her youngest child who had been unilaterally converted to Islam.
In her ruling then, Zainun also referred to Malaysia as a “multicultural and multireligious” country.
Dr Mahathir triggered a firestorm on July 3 when he tweeted that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was purportedly beholden to the DAP even though the party only had four ministers in the Cabinet.
The soon to be 98-year-old further claimed in the series of tweets that the DAP had a “manifesto” to turn the country into a multiracial one without an official religion, and that the Anwar administration would collapse if the party’s 40 MPs chose to withdraw their support for the PKR president.
DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke came out on the same day to debunk Dr Mahathir’s claims, calling them baseless.
Loke said all DAP MPs will continue to defend the Federal Constitution, including respecting Islam’s position as the religion for the federation of Malaysia and other religions being able to be practised peacefully as contained in Article 3(1).
Loke said DAP has never and will not question Islam’s position as the religion of the federation as stated in the Federal Constitution.
He added that Malaysia is famous for being a country where those of diverse races live peacefully together and said Dr Mahathir himself had a vision to create “Bangsa Malaysia” or Malaysia Nation through Vision 2020. MM
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