Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim has described proposals to introduce a law to make the flying of the Malaysian flag compulsory during the month of Merdeka as "loony".

He added that his former colleague, Communication and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek who put forward the proposal was politicising the issue of patriotism.

NONE"In the US during the 1970s, everyone there was against the Vietnam war and were burning their own flag and the president's picture.

" Here, people are loyal but because they want to politicise it, they label a group as not being loyal and somehow if they put up a flag then people become loyal," Zaid (left) said at the 7th Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit.

He added that if by merely putting up a flag it would make someone more loyal, the government would have done it long ago.

Zaid, who was fielding questions from students, said, like patriotism policing, he was also against moral policing.

'Moral policing for the poor'

He said that moral laws tend to affect lower income people while higher ups could escape them.

"Take khalwat for example, the poor guy goes to a cheap hotel and gets caught but the rich guy goes to a five-star hotel, who is going to arrest him?

"This is just not fair, so the less moral policing the better," he said.

He added that morality could not be defined in a clear cut manner and thus could be open to abuse.

Zaid who professes himself to be a liberal Muslim said there is no shame in a Muslim calling one self as such.

Asked about Article 121(a) of the federal constitution, an amendment that says the syariah courts has exclusive rights over its jurisdiction, Zaid said this does not mean that they are on par with the civil courts.

"They (syariah courts) are a creature of state constitutions, so how can they be on par or higher than the civil courts which is a creature of the federal constitution?" he said.

While noting since the amendment, there had been several legal issues on religious conversion, Zaid said the law was not the source of problem.

"The civil courts is still higher but judges are afraid to take up the issue, therefore, they fall back on the article as an excuse.

"But the article does not put the syariah courts on par with the civil courts," he said.