KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 — Women MPs from Sabah and Sarawak could be the next prime minister of a new coalition government, DAP’s Lim Kit Siang suggested today in his follow-up to his proposed bipartisan “Save Malaysia” pact.

Among the names listed as candidates by Lim were de facto Law Minister Nancy Shukri, Deputy Works Minister Datuk Rosnah Rashid Shirlin, and Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim.

“If such a new coalition gets the support of the majority of the 222 Members of Parliament, then there will be a new Prime Minister, and clearly it will not be Najib,” Lim said in a statement, referring to the incumbent Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

“The new PM can be from Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak or Sabah, can be a man or a woman, but he or she must be one who is committed to defend the bedrock constitutional principles like the first five Prime Ministers of Malaysia.”

Other names floated by the Gelang Patah MP included Sabahans Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, Kalabakan MP Datuk Seri Abdul Ghapur Salleh; and Works Minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof from Sarawak.

“I have not mentioned Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal or Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, two current Cabinet Ministers from Sabah, as they seem to support Hadi's private member's bill,” the DAP parliamentary leader added, referring to the hudud bill filed for debate by PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

He added that the two Sabahan federal ministers have been making excuses for the prime minister’s silence on the multiracial BN’s official stand on the implementation of hudud in Malaysia.

Last week, the Kelantan state assembly approved the Shariah Criminal Code (II) (1993) 2015 Enactment with 31 votes from PAS lawmakers supported by 12 from Umno.

PAS is seeking to put forward two private members’ bills in Parliament to enable Kelantan to enforce hudud ― one which will seek approval for the state to legislate punishment for crimes under the Penal Code.

Faced with the very real possibility of the three-party Pakatan Rakyat opposition pact breaking up over the hudud controversy, Lim suggested a week ago the formation of a new government by a “Save Malaysia” coalition to comprise lawmakers from both sides of the political divide.

Stressing that the suggestion was his personal view, the veteran DAP politician noted that both PR and BN appear to be torn in their support for hudud, the Islamic penal code that PAS intends to implement in Kelantan.

He added that the pact’s objectives would be specifically to defend the Federal Constitution and uphold the rule of law.