Action will be taken if prince makes seditious remarks, says PM

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.

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