KUCHING, July 13 — A Dayak group told PAS today that Tan Sri Richard Malanjum was the most suitable candidate to be Chief Justice as he was the most senior Federal Court judge.
Dayak National Congress (DNC) president Paul Raja said the Islamist party's criticism about a non-Muslim being appointed as the country's top judge did not help to promote justice.
"We must state here that being a non-Muslim does not restrict Malanjum from administering justice in the highest court of the nation," he said.
"We must also remember that he is helming the civil court of Malaysia, and not the Shariah court.”
PAS information chief Nasrudin Hasan claimed that aspirations to strengthen Shariah law in the country had been undermined by the appointments of non-Muslims to several important posts related to the legal system.
Nasrudin also claimed Malanjum’s judicial record showed that he was not sympathetic to Islam in key cases.
The PAS information chief had also questioned the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government’s rationale in appointing non-Muslims for the posts of the Attorney General, Chief Justice, and Minister in the Prime Minister’s office in charge of legal affairs.
Raja said Nasrudin should realise that Malaysia is a multi-racial country, adding that Sarawakians wondered if PAS forgot that Sabah and Sarawak were part of Malaysia with many non-Muslims.
He said in Sabah and Sarawak, religion is not an issue and that the people of the two Borneo states live harmoniously among each other without having any issues with each person’s religion.
He called on PAS leaders including Nasrudin to visit Sarawak which has many families practising different religions.
