However, the party’s publicity spokesman Ti Lian Ker said it was accepted then that Mahathir’s comment was pure political posturing and not legally binding.
“This is similar to the remark by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki yesterday that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government would ensure the country becomes an Islamic state,” Ti said in a statement today.
Mahathir, who is now chairman of PPBM and Pakatan Harapan, had made the declaration while opening the Gerakan annual delegates conference in September 2001.
Ti said that at the time, Mahathir had lost support from the Malays following the Reformasi movement that was initiated after he had fired Anwar Ibrahim, who was his deputy prime minister, from the government in 1998.
“Anwar and PAS seemed to be having the Islamic moral ground at that time.
“Politically, however, his declaration then brought about a surge in demand for the Islamic state agenda to be realised, forgetting the basis of our social contract and the need to be constitutionally compliant,” said Ti, who is also MCA’s religious harmony bureau chairman.
Yesterday, Asyraf was reported by Bernama as telling a forum in Kelantan that the development of Islam in the country was being strengthened and was a clear signal that the BN government was not shirking its responsibility to make Malaysia an Islamic state.
He said the government was providing the financial resources to empower Islam and that this year alone RM987 million was provided to the education ministry for Islamic education and RM559 million to the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim).