KUALA LUMPUR - MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai dismissed today Minister in the Prime Minister Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom’s statement that Malaysia is not a secular state as merely his personal view.
Liow insisted today that Malaysia is a secular country, arguing that it was clearly defined in the Federal Constitution which was drafted to safeguard the rights of not only one race and religion, but of all.
“MCA has always been the same and consistent in its stand as before that this country is a secular state.
“MCA was a strong foundation in building this nation which is a multiracial country that allows harmony and unity under the Federal Constitution.
“No one person in this country can have their own personal interpretation of the Federal Constitution,”Liow told reporters after attending a party function at the MCA headquarters here.
The Bentong MP also urged Malaysians to defend the country’s founding document so that Malaysia remains a progressive nation.
The debate over whether Malaysia — which runs on both civil and Shariah judicial systems — is an Islamic or secular state resurfaced recently after Jamil Khir said last Monday that Malaysia is not the latter.
The minister in charge of Islamic affairs said his position was reinforced by several constitutional provisions, including Article 3 which states that Islam is the religion of the federation.
His declaration sparked uproar among Malaysia’s non-Malay leaders who saw it as a betrayal of the spirit upon which the country was founded.
Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom
Jamil Khir’s assertion works against a key argument against the implementation of hudud here, although he stopped short of declaring that Malaysia is an Islamic state.
The hudud issue resurfaced earlier this year, following talk that a few PAS lawmakers had intended to table a private member’s bill in Parliament to debate the implementation of Islamic criminal law.
The Kelantan state assembly passed a bill to implement hudud in the state in 1993, but it has been put on hold until now as was considered to be in conflict with the Federal Constitution. -Malaymail
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