Puad: Kit Siang is politically immature with his non-Malay PM remark

Puad: Kit Siang is politically immature with his non-Malay PM remark

DAP veteran Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang is politically immature to have claimed that the Federal Constitution does not preclude non-Malays from becoming a Malaysian Prime Minister (PM).

Taking to the social media to offer his two cents’ worth, UMNO supreme council member Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi said there is no need for this matter to be stirred up or sensationalised.’

“It’s true that the Federal Constitution does not explicitly state that the PM must be a Malay. So, why make this issue a hot topic?” Puad penned in a Facebook post today (Dec 14).

“Lim himself admitted that he did not want to be PM and was sceptical of a Chinese becoming PM in the next 100 years. Let political maturity takes place naturally, not by force. There is no need for this matter to be brought up and made into a sensational issue.”

Puad who is the former Batu Pahat MP further reminded Lim that Mandarin and Tamil vernacular schools owe their existence to mature Malay politics.

“These schools exist because of the unwritten social contract which Malay leaders continue to respect. Tolerance still exists in Malaysia,” he pointed out.

“There’s no issue of constitutionality in whether a non-Malay can become PM and there’s no issue of freedom of speech. But why is Lim still playing up 3R (race, religion and royalty) issues despite retiring from politics and becoming a Tan Sri?” the Rengit assemblyman asked.

In a speech to Malaysian students in Manchester late last month, Lim expressed hope that Malaysia would not have to wait as long as the US to have a leader from an ethnic minority. He was referring to former US president Barack Obama who was elected to the White House some 230 years after independence.

Yesterday (Dec 13), investigating officers from the he Bukit Aman’s Classified Crime Investigation Unit (USJT) recorded Lim’s statement at the Sea Park Police Station in SS2 Petaling Jaya.

The DAP stalwart’s statement was recorded after a police report was lodged against his blog content which has been deemed as provocative by a member of the public, according to his legal counsel Muhammad Khairil Khalid. – Dec 14, 2023