SURELY TMJ NOT FIT TO BE A POLITICIAN – ALREADY HE SOUNDS LIKE AN UMNO-PAS WARLORD WITH VESTED INTERESTS, HIDING BEHIND MALAY RULERS & ISLAM: ‘YOU RE JUST ‘ORANG BIASA’ TO US, IF YOU SAY SEDITIOUS THINGS, WE’LL COME AFTER YOU, DR M TELLS JOHOR PRINCE – WHILE TMJ SHOOTS HIS MOUTH ‘I’M ALL YOURS, FINISH WHAT YOU START’

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has stressed that nobody in Malaysia is above the law and this includes Johor crown prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.

Responding to a question, he told reporters in Parliament this evening that Tunku Ismail is free to air his views like all Malaysians.

“We consider him as an ‘orang biasa’ (ordinary person). He can criticise the government as long as he does not break the law,” added the premier.

However, Mahathir warned that action would be taken against the prince if he makes statements which are considered seditious.

“He is not above the law. In fact, nobody in Malaysia is above the law,” he added.

Quizzed on whether he would advise Tunku Ismail to join politics, Mahathir said the prince could make that choice himself.

“If he wants to be political, he can be but there is nothing to prevent any citizen of Malaysia from expressing his opinion. And he is a citizen of Malaysia, nothing more than that,” he added.

Tunku Ismail had locked horns with Mahathir over the government ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which the prince argued would threaten the position of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Malays and Islam.

Last week, the prime minister announced that Malaysia would withdraw from the Rome Statute and trained his guns on a person whom he accused of sowing confusion among the people over the issue.

Mahathir also claimed that the person wanted to be “free to beat up people and things like that.”

“If he beats up people again, I will send the police to arrest him. I don’t care who he is,” he had said.

Though he did not mention names, speculation was rife that Mahathir was referring to the Johor palace, in particular, Tunku Ismail. – MKINI

TMJ: Come and find me if I’ve said anything seditious

PETALING JAYA— Crown Prince of Johor Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim said today he was ready to face any criminal action if he was found to have made any seditious remarks.

“Sila (please do). If I have to go down for upholding the Constitution, the Malay Rulers and Islam. By all means. You know where to find me.

“I’m all yours. Finish what you start,” he said in a tweet responding to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s statement earlier today that Tunku Ismail was not above the law.

Dr Mahathir during a press conference in Dewan Rakyat said Tunku Ismail was free to voice out his opinions as long as it is within the law.

He said the government considered Tunku Ismail, popularly known as TMJ, and his views as being on the same level as any ordinary Malaysians.

“He can speak as they do, as long as it does not break the law. If he makes any statements that are seditious, we will take action against him,” Dr Mahathir said.

– MALAY MAIL

MKINI / MALAY MAIL