According to the constitution, anybody regardless of race and religion can become the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Should the Opposition parties win in the next general election and Lim Kit Siang is the Opposition leader at that time; he is eligible even to become the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
When Sonia Gandhi won in large margin the Rae Bareilly constituency in Uttar Pradesh in the 2004 Indian general election, she was elected to be the leader of a 15-party coalition government which was subsequently named the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and thus was expected to become the Prime Minister of India. However, she could not become the Prime Minister of India because she is not an Indian by birth. Many of the Indians are against the idea that a non-Indian become the Prime Minister of India. Sonia was born an Italian in Lusiana, Italy and was the wife of the late Rajiv Ghandi, the former Prime Minister of India and has become the citizen of India. After the death of her husband, Sonia entered politics and became the leader of the Congress party. She is the leader of the coalition party that has won the Indian election. Under the Indian Constitution, she has the right to become the Prime Minister of India. However many Indians were not ready to accept her as the Prime Minister of India. There were many protests all over the country against her becoming the Prime Minister of India.There were two female members of the parliament who had threaten to commit suicide if Sonia were made the Prime Minister of India. In my opinion, Sonia has made the correct decision not to become the Prime Minister and instead she has chosen Dr. Manmohan Singh to become the Prime Minister of India. Her decision has returned calm and peace to the country and raised her status to be a great woman and a great leader of India. There are few in the world who were willing to step down for the sake of peace and stability for the country like her instead of clinging on to the position and power.
Even though India practices democracy, but there is no democracy in choosing who should become the Prime Minister of India. Generally, in order to become the leader in a democratic country, you have to be popular and the party that you lead must win the general election. India is a democratic country, but still strongly practices caste system and racism. Although caste and racism is slowly dying in other parts of the World but it is still being practiced by the majority of the people in India. Even the Muslims in India, particularly those in the north still practices caste system. They have long embraced Islam but caste and racism are still in their minds. Normally when rich Muslims hold marriage function in India, only the rich will be invited. Marriage is still an arranged affair in India and no one is allowed to marry outside his or her race and caste. In a democratic system, all men are equal and all men have equal right and opportunities. In a democratic system, when a person is qualified, no matter what race he or she belongs to, he or she can become the state leader. In case Lim Kit Siang is qualified, he can become not only the Deputy Prime Minister but even the Prime Minister of Malaysia. The leader of the opposition party should have been Lim Kit Siang and not Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim since DAP had won the most seats in the Parliament during the last general election but Lim Kit Siang certainly know how to play the political game with Dato’ Seri Anwar. Lim Kit Siang has declined to take the position as the leader of the Opposition and gave the position to Anwar as Lim Kit Siang knows; Anwar is more acceptable to PAS as the leader of the Opposition than him. Lim Kit Siang understands that Anwar is a Malay and he can talk very good about Islam. With oratorical talent, Anwar can convince everybody that he is a great Islamic leader.
In reality, according to a democratic system Lim Kit Siang should have become the leader of the Opposition and not Anwar. In case in the next general election, the Opposition win, Lim Kit Siang shall become the Prime Minister of Malaysia and not Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Dato’Seri Anwar told the press that irrespective of race and religion anyone who is qualified under the democratic system can become the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. Dato Seri Anwar believes in Malaysia he is more suitable than Lim Kit Siang to become the Prime Minister since is a Malay Muslim. Anwar is not practicing absolute democracy but a non-absolute democracy as in India. The case seems similar to Sonia Gandhi in India. Although under the Indian democratic system, she was qualified to become the Prime Minister of India, many of the Indians could not accept her as their Prime Minister. Sonia knows that she cannot become the Prime Minister of India because she is not acceptable to many of the Indians. She is not acceptable to many of the Indians because she is not an Indian. It is acceptable to say that India does not practice absolute democracy.
Malaysia too is not practicing absolute democracy. There is nothing wrong not to practice absolute democracy. Democracy is a man-made system. Democracy is not an ideal system; it does not work in all countries, and for all types of people. Allah does not reveal to Prophet Muhammad saw the democratic system of governance. Although in a democratic system, the equality concept that regards men are all equal before law is Islamic but the method of selecting leaders is not Islamic. Although it was not written in the Malaysian Constitution, the convention is that the person who is to become the Prime Minister of Malaysia must be Malay and a Muslim. In my opinion, the Malays will not accept a non-Malay and a non-Muslim to become the Prime Minister of Malaysia or even the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. In case Lim Kit Siang becomes even the Deputy Prime Minister, in my opinion, Malaysia will turn to turmoil. Tuan Guru Dato’ Nik Aziz initially commented that Lim Kit Siang can become the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia as long as it does not contradict the Constitution of Malaysia. Later on, Tuan Guru Dato’ Nik Aziz said that Lim Kit Siang can become the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia if Lim Kit Siang embraces Islam and become a good Muslim. In other words, Tuan Guru is teaching Lim Kit Siang to become a Muslim with the intention to become Deputy Prime Minister and not to please Allah. Tuan Guru is teaching Lim Kit Siang to become Muslim without sincerity. In Malaysia many Chinese and Indians become Muslim because they want to marry a Muslim lady and not because they want to please Allah.
Even a religious scholar, like Tuan Guru Dato’ Nik Abdul Aziz, when he enters politics, may make mistakes. However all the mistakes made by Tuan Guru Dato’ Nik Abdul Aziz will be forgiven and overlooked by Pas members because Tuan Guru is a highly regarded spiritual leader of PAS. Whenever Tuan Guru made a wrong statement, Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim will quickly come to his rescue by saying that the opinion given by Tuan Guru is personal. No opinion given by a leader is personal. An opinion is only personal when given by a person who has no responsibility or position as a leader in an organization. Tuan Guru Dato’ Nik Abdul Aziz is the Mursidul Am of PAS and whatever he says would be regarded as the opinion of the whole organization of PAS. PAS members cannot argue with statements given by Tuan Guru Nik Abdul Aziz. Whatever he think and believe will influence the direction of PAS.
Even before they win the general election, the members of the Opposition could not even have the consensus of who to become the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. When they win the election and see the privileges and benefits of becoming the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Ministers, in my opinion all of them will be busy quarreling with each other to get the posts rather than busy governing the country. Malaysians have the choice to practice absolute democracy and may have chaos in the country or to practice non-absolute democracy and may have peace and progress in the country. What is important is not the system but that the country is always at peace and is progressing to become an advanced nation. We must put the nation and the people’s interest above the system. When the situation arises whereby even practicing the non-absolute democracy will not bring peace and progress to the nation, Malaysia has to move to another system of governance. In case by adopting certain system of governance, it will bring peace and progress to Malaysia, Malaysia must adopt that system. In multi-racial, multi-religion, and multi-lingual society, in my opinion, the best system will be the system revealed by Allah to Prophet Muhammad saw. In Islamic system of governance, the leader of the Muslims shall be the best person among the Muslims in the country and chosen by responsible and good people of the country. Only good people know who is the best person among them. Selecting a leader through general elections, where fools, stupid and bad people also vote, is not an Islamic system and is certainly susceptible to weaknesses.
Islam is always the answer to all problems in this world but unfortunately not many people understand Islam since many do not practice the true teachings of Islam. Many are only teaching and talking about Islam but do not practice whatever Prophet Muhammad saw had practiced during his lifetime. Malaysia is having problems like other countries. Allah will only solve our problems when we obey all the orders of Allah the way shown by Prophet Muhammad saw.
Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
December 2010
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre