KOTA KINABALU, Sept 15 — Tuaran MP Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau has urged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to form a special Cabinet committee to discuss race, religious, and language-related issues to preserve the country’s unity.
According to Tangau, Anwar himself should chair the committee while assisted by religious affairs and national unity ministers as his second-in-charge and include senior members from parties that can deliberate on sensitive issues before they get out of hand.
"For all sensitive issues, all stakeholders should get their voices heard. This is the only way we can avoid political disputes by the parties trying to stir up trouble.
"Don't let it get to the point where all parties are mobilising the grassroots to protest. By then it will be too late,” he said in a statement here.
He urged Malaysians to come together for Malaysia Day, appreciate its diversity and find solutions for its differences.
He said that to preserve the country, the government and its people needed to uphold the Federal Constitution.
"The original 1963 Federal Constitution is our social contract. We need to make sure that every guarantee, certificate and promise of MA63 is reinforced and can be further improved with deeper and wider decentralization.
"However, at the same time, we must manage change with caution. We should not rush any change before a consensus is reached by heart all stakeholders are heard and taken into account. In the country's unstable political situation, with doubts and hatred is sown by certain parties, change management becomes even more important,” he said.
Tangau expressed concern about the recent insistence of 10 Muslim groups' call to amend the Constitution in order to give state legislative assemblies the autonomy to enact Shariah laws.
Currently, state laws are subject to Schedule II of the Constitution.
He said he understood the concerns of Muslims but asked for their patience so that any decision would undergo the due process that involves all lawmakers.
