Kit Siang to Muhyiddin: Did Dr M's 'subservience' cause Sheraton Move?

DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has taken Perikatan Nasional chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin to task after the latter claimed that DAP’s alleged dominance in the current government as well as on Umno could make it possible for a non-Malay to be appointed as the prime minister.

Lim then asked Muhyiddin if Dr Mahathir Mohamad was “subservient” to DAP when the nonagenarian was prime minister during the Pakatan Harapan administration from 2018 to 2020.

“Was that the reason for the Sheraton Move political conspiracy, which toppled the second Mahathir government?” Lim asked in a statement today.

“I never asked Mahathir for anything, for myself or for anyone else, and never knew who he was going to appoint but I did see him once to emphasise the importance of being serious about election pledges.

“Why would a person (Mahathir) who was subservient to DAP when he was prime minister for the second time now be appointed as adviser to the four states (administered by PAS) of Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, and Perlis?”

Yesterday, Muhyiddin claimed that Umno was subservient to DAP, saying that the Malay nationalist party is merely a small player in the current federal government and there’s nothing it can do if a non-Malay individual were to be appointed as prime minister.

Muhyiddin said this in response to Lim’s earlier remarks that a non-Malay could become prime minister. The DAP leader has since been summoned by the police over the matter.

READ MORE: Fact-check: Did Malaysia ever have non-Malay PM?

In response, Lim revealed that Muhyiddin had allegedly met him in July 2016, when the latter asked for DAP’s support for him to be the seventh prime minister.

However, Lim said he had turned down such a request as DAP was committed to Anwar Ibrahim as the prime minister candidate.

He then queried if the the rejection to back Muhyiddin as prime minister at that time had turned him “anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-royalty, communist, and spreading Islamophobia”.

“Would DAP be fully acceptable and nobody would be ‘dominant’ and nobody would be ‘subservient’ if I had supported him (Muhyiddin) as the seventh prime minister of Malaysia in 2016?”

Lim, who is former Iskandar Puteri MP, then asked if PN and Bersatu were prepared to support an amendment of the Malaysian constitution to ensure that while a Chinese and Indian will not be prime minister for the next 100 years, there would be a Kadazan and Dayak prime minister.

Under the Federal Constitution, the only requirement for someone to be prime minister, as per Article 43(2)(a), is that the person be an MP, who, in the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s judgement, has majority support in Dewan Rakyat.

Meanwhile, Article 160 defines a Malay as a person who professes the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay language, and conforms to Malay customs.

This definition does not cover Orang Asli or natives of Sabah and Sarawak.

Following Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal’s calls for the government to amend the Federal Constitution to make the prime minister post exclusive to Malay Muslims, Anwar was reported as saying that there was no need for such amendments.

“So far, there’s no need, no serious discussion,” he was cited as saying by The Star yesterday.

He was also quoted as saying that the prime minister will continue to be a Malay.

Anwar, who is also Harapan chairperson, said the issue of a non-Malay becoming the prime minister was played up by the opposition to create disunity among the country’s multiracial community.

With Umno subservient to DAP, non-Malay PM possible: Muhyiddin

Anwar: Opposition pitting rakyat against each other over non-Malay PM

Isham likens Zahid to captain leading ship to its doom

Textbook racism, LFL pans Wan Fayhsal over Malay only PM proposal

Baru: Sabah, S'wak MPs won't back race restriction for PM post

Machang MP urges Anwar to limit PM post to Malay Muslims