“If PAS rules, it (the administration) will be divided into two. One (is) a cabinet that decides on national policies. This must consist of people who adopt the national ideology and faith.
“This cabinet will appoint an executive cabinet to carry out the policies and the members can be non-Muslims, appointed based on their expertise,” said the Marang MP during a speech at the opening of PAS’ dialogue with Indian NGOs in Kepala Batas, Penang, today.”
There is nothing in the Federal Constitution which supports such a setting. Article 43 provides for the composition of one cabinet and not two. There is no division in that provision for a cabinet which deals with national policies and another to carry out or execute those policies. The proposal would therefore, to my mind, be offensive to the basic structure of the Constitution which advocates inclusiveness and equality and it would to that extent be unconstitutional. What we need to build is a country where there is mutual respect for all races and that its governance remains an effort and the responsibility of all of its people collectively. The future of this country must be shaped in that context and I think that is what the framers of the Federal Constitution had in mind when drafting it given the way, in particular Article 8 and 43, is worded.