KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 — Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem’s brother, Datuk Amin Satem, has joined G25, a group originally comprising 25 Malay former high-ranking civil servants that speaks out against racial and religious extremism.
Amin and Asgari Stephens, the son of Sabah’s first Chief Minister Tun Mohammad Fuad Stephens, are among the latest recruits to G25 that now has 42 members, The Star daily reported today.
“I have always subscribed to the G25 cause and many in Sarawak think that way too,” Amin was quoted saying.
“We have been alarmed by the growth of extremism in religion and race...We want to impress upon the prime minister that we are supporting the 1Malaysia policy, and let’s practise it,” added the former Sarawak Chamber of Commerce and Industry president.
The Star reported Asgari, who is also a Sabahan businessman, as saying that he joined G25 because he was “concerned about the way that Islamic law has been able to erode our rights in civil law under the Constitution”.
“It’s a call to the prime minister and the public to be aware of their rights and to ensure they are protected,” he was quoted saying.
G25 penned a strongly-worded open letter last December, calling on Putrajaya to review Shariah criminal offences and to assert the supremacy of the Federal Constitution over Islamic state laws in the country.
The group, dominated by some of the country’s most senior-ranking civil servants who have since retired from duty, had expressed its dismay over the unresolved disputes on the position and application of Islamic laws in Malaysia, which it said reflects a “serious breakdown” of the division of powers between the federal authority and the states.
