By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani
The Malaysian Insider
KUALAL LUMPUR, May 10 — PAS vice president Mahfuz Omar said today that the party would not oppose a non-Muslim prime minister as it is constitutional.
Mahfuz, however, said that it is unlikely that a non-Muslim will lead the government as the Muslim community still forms the majority in the country.
“The constitution does not bar a non-Muslim from becoming prime minister. This is not about PAS. PAS cannot stop the constitution but it will not happen because of the current majority we have,” he told reporters during a press conference here.
Mahfuz added that Malay-majority seats will continue to dominate parliament as DAP and MCA will only contest Chinese-majority seats.
The Pokok Sena MP also called for Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to temporarily suspend Utusan Malaysia for inciting racial hatred in a recent article.
The Malay daily carried a front-page article on Saturday claiming the DAP was conspiring with Christian leaders to take over Putrajaya and abolish Islam as the country’s official religion.
The report, based entirely on unsubstantiated blog postings by several pro-Umno bloggers, charged the DAP with sedition for allegedly trying to change the country’s laws to allow a Christian prime minister, pointing to a grainy photograph showing what they described as a secret pact between the opposition party and pastors at a hotel in Penang on Wednesday.
MORE TO COME
#1 by dagen on Tuesday, 10 May 2011 - 1:38 pm
A very practical and legally correct statement to make. Bravo. Chaps like mahfuz do not feel threatened the same way umno felt. Of course non-muslim can be PM. The constitution does not forbid it. But present realities could not quite accommodate that. Another 20-30 yrs, circumstances may change sufficiently to allow a non-muslim PM. Just like the present black president of US.
Stupid fools. If the present realities are favouring them, then really umnoputras need not be so jumpy about the whole issue. Chill man. Chill it.