Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia “exceeded” his powers when he said that Malaysia is not a secular state in rejecting a motion yesterday, an MP said.

DAP's Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang (left) said that this is because a speaker has no powers over the constitution.

Lim said that although Pandikar qualified his statement as saying that it is “merely for the purposes of the House”, the latter cannot prevent it from being used as basis for future arguments.

This is because Pandikar was speaking as the House speaker and making a ruling on a motion.

“Such caveat by Pandikar will not prevent his ‘ruling’ from being quoted by various quarters as an ‘authority’ or even used by ministers in future parliamentary meetings to justify their arbitrary, dubious and controversial stand that Malaysia is not a secular state.

“Furthermore, it is not within the province of the powers and functions for a speaker to give his interpretation or ruling on a hot potato issue as to whether Malaysia is secular, not secular or an Islamic state,” he said.

Lim added Pandikar should have instead decided on whether to refer Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Jamil Khir Baharom to the rights and privileges committee, instead of getting involved in the matter.

Ling 'malicious' and 'extreme'

Pandikar had said that he believes Malaysia is not a secular state when he rejected a motion by Sibu MP Oscar Ling (left) to refer Jamil Khir to the rights and privileges committee for saying Malaysia is not secular.

The statement had irked many, especially those from Sabah and Sarawak, who pointed out that the two states had joined Malaya and Singapore to form Malaysia in 1963 with the understanding that Malaysia is secular.

Ling’s move to put Jamil Khir before the rights committee, was, however slammed by Islamic Youth Movement (Abim) president Amidi Abdul Manan as “malicious” and “extreme”.

“As a politician, he should put the nation's interests before his own, but his question (which led Jamil Khir to reply that Malaysia is not secular) traps society in a state of anxiety and suspicion.

“Ling does not realise that there is already an intellectual debate on Malaysia's status according to the constitution, and thus exists differing views.

“He should accept that there are differing views and act wisely without taking a provocative stance for the sake of popularity,” Amidi said.

He added that were more urgent issues, such as poverty and poor governance, which could better be debated, rather than polemics like whether the country is a secular state.

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