MCA, MIC, Gerakan and SUPP ministers should press Cabinet to restore the 1957 social contract and the Merdeka Constitution that respects the rights of minorities, make Bangsa Malaysia and a multi-religious society a part of national policy

Press Statement

by Lim Guan Eng

(Petaling Jaya, Wednesday): DAP challenges the ministers of MCA, MIC, Gerakan and SUPP to press Cabinet to restore the 1957 social contract and the Merdeka Constitution that respects the rights of minorities, make Bangsa Malaysia and a multi-religious society a part of national policy.

Malaysians who love our country must be prepared to stand up for our rights if we want Malaysia to become more prosperous, more caring, and fairer to all. The time has come to look not from a religious and racial perspective but from a Malaysian identity.

The 1957 social contract giving rise to Merdeka must be restored to change the present emphasis of bangsa, agama negara to negara, bangsa dan agama based on Malaysia, Malaysian Race and a multi-religious society. No other country would put race and religion above the nation. The nation must always come first. Only then can we attain genuine national unity and identity based on one common vision, interest and community.

The failure to respect the secular basis of the 1957 Merdeka Constitution and the social contract was highlighted by the constitutional amendment of Article 121(1A) in 1988 and former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed unilateral declaration that Malaysia was an Islamic state on September 29, 2001. The ramifications of this constitutional amendment and Islamic state declaration was clearly demonstrated in the dispute over the right to bury according to Muslim or Hindu rites in the M. Moorthy’s and A.Rayappan’s case.

The civil High Court in deciding that only the Syariah Court had a right to decide his religion, non-Muslims were shocked to be told that in cases involving a Muslim, a non-Muslim has no legal remedy nor a right to be heard. Whereas Article 8 of the Federal Constitution provides for freedom of religion, Article 121(A) effectively locks non-Muslims out of the Syariah Court and prevents them from pursuing their rights through the Islamic legal system.

The government must realize that Rayappan is a non-Malay who only converted to Islam in 1990 because he wanted to marry a Muslim wife. However he returned to his family and faith in 1999, and his Christian faith was recognized by the National Registration Department when his MyKad listed him as a Christian. Such issues involving a non-Muslim should be determined by a civil court.

DAP takes the stand that only if both parties are Muslim or their Islamic faith is not in dispute, the Syariah court has full authority. However if one of the parties is a non-Muslim then the civil courts should decide. Natural justice demands that every citizen should have a right of legal representation in court. Non-Muslims have a right to refuse to submit to the Syariah courts as non-Muslims and it is also unlikely that they would enjoy full legal representation.

This clearly goes against the social contract and the original 1957 Merdeka Constitution. DAP calls for a full restoration of the 1957 social contract and the Merdeka Constitution that gave birth to a nation based on a shared sense of values of a secular democracy and justice for all Malaysians.