KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 — Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary-general Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz’s argument that a non-Muslim attorney general (AG) cannot complete the oath of office with the Quran is not based on law, said the Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) today.
The group pointed out that an AG not only did not need to take an oath using the Quran, the Federal Constitution did not require the appointee to take any oath of office at all.
“As a qualified lawyer, it is astonishing that Nazri Aziz plays fast and loose with the Constitution, which is the founding document of our nation,” LFL’s Latheefa Koya said in a statement today.
Latheefa also accused Nazri of playing up dangerous racist sentiments leading up to this weekend’s Semenyih state seat by-election.
Commenting on the former minister’s claim of representing the Malay voice by insisting the community was aggrieved with the notion of a non-Malay AG, Latheefa said Nazri was doing the entire ethnicity a disservice.
Such a claim portrayed the community as intolerant and bigoted, she explained.
“Nazri’s claim is divisive, racist and an outrageous insult to all Malays in the country,” Latheefa said.
Police have questioned Nazri over the remarks he made last week while on the Semenyih campaign trail.
Yesterday, he maintained he was only “stating facts” with his claim that the Malay community feared “bias” because the AG, chief justice and finance minister were not of their ethnicity.
