Deputy law minister: Dr Mahathir's remarks lack legal basis, Federal Constitution reflects Malaysia as multiracial, multireligious

KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 — Contrary to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's remarks, the Federal Constitution is not silent but recognises Malaysia as being multiracial, Ramkarpal Singh said today.

The deputy minister overseeing the law and institutional reform portfolio added that the former two-time prime minister’s tweets two days ago that the Constitution never mentioned Malaysia as a multiracial country has no legal basis.

Dr Mahathir had also claimed on Twitter that DAP has a manifesto to make Malaysia into a multiracial and secular country without an official religion.

To this, Ramkarpal said that Islam's position as the official religion of Malaysia has never been disputed.

He said this provision is contained in Article 3, which states that Islam is the religion of the federation, and provides that other religions can be practised in any part of Malaysia.

“Article 3 of the Federal Constitution also provides that religions other than Islam may also be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation.

“This means, the existence of Article 3 of the Federal Constitution proves that Malaysia is a country composed of various races, culture and religion,” the Bukit Gelugor MP said in a statement.

He also cited a Federal Court ruling in 2022 — Dhinesh Tanaphll v Lembaga Pencegahan Jenayah & Ors — in which the judges noted that Article 3 is part of the “basic structure” of the Constitution, and that Parliament cannot amend these fundamental provisions as doing so “would be unconstitutional”.

Apart from Article 3, Ramkarpal said Article 8 prohibits any discrimination towards any Malaysian purely on religion, race, descent, place of birth or gender except as expressly authorised by the Constitution, while Article 11 also gives every person to profess and practise his religion.

“All the Federal Constitution provisions above, when read together, reflects the recognition that Malaysia is a country that is multiracial, multicultural and multireligious,” he said.

Ramkarpal said Dr Mahathir had recognised and never disputed Malaysia's status as a multiracial country throughout his 23 years of being a prime minister in the past, and said the latter's recent remarks were regrettable.

Ramkarpal said Dr Mahathir would have access to legal advice through the attorney-general when he was prime minister for more than two decades and he should be aware of the legal position on this issue.

“In such a situation, it is clear that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad would be aware that his statement has no basis at all,” he said.

Ramkarpal said Dr Mahathir should as a senior “statesman” realise the importance of the phrase “unity in diversity should be our strength and not our shame” in Malaysia.

He credited the phrase to then Federal Court judge Tan Sri Zainun Ali in her 2018 judgment in the high-profile case of Hindu mother M. Indira Gandhi who sought the return of her youngest child who had been unilaterally converted to Islam.

In her ruling then, Zainun also referred to Malaysia as a “multicultural and multireligious” country.

Dr Mahathir triggered a firestorm on July 3 when he tweeted that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was purportedly beholden to the DAP even though the party only had four ministers in the Cabinet.

The soon to be 98-year-old further claimed in the series of tweets that the DAP had a “manifesto” to turn the country into a multiracial one without an official religion, and that the Anwar administration would collapse if the party’s 40 MPs chose to withdraw their support for the PKR president.

DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke came out on the same day to debunk Dr Mahathir's claims, calling them baseless.

Loke said all DAP MPs will continue to defend the Federal Constitution, including respecting Islam's position as the religion for the federation of Malaysia and other religions being able to be practised peacefully as contained in Article 3(1).

Loke said DAP has never and will not question Islam's position as the religion of the federation as stated in the Federal Constitution.

He added that Malaysia is famous for being a country where those of diverse races live peacefully together and said Dr Mahathir himself had a vision to create “Bangsa Malaysia" or Malaysia Nation through Vision 2020.