JOHOR State Legislative Assembly Speaker Mohd Puad Zarkashi has waded into the controversy stirred by Lim Kit Siang’s recent speech in England about the possibility of a non-Malay being appointed prime minister, saying the natural process of political maturity would determine if that happened.

“Political maturity should be left to its natural course. It should not be forced,” he said in a Facebook posting today. 

Puad said it was true that there was nothing in the Federal Constitution that stated that the prime minister must be Malay but questioned why Lim had to “heat up the issue” now. 

“The ethnicity of the chief minister of Penang is not an issue.

“No need to stir it up and make it a sensational issue. He needs to remember that Malay political maturity has resulted in Chinese and Tamil schools still existing today.” 

He pointed out that there was nothing in the Federal Constitution on the need for Chinese and Tamil schools, alluding to Bahasa Melayu being the national language. 

He said these schools existed because of an unwritten social contract, and Malay leaders continued to respect it. 

Lim, he added, was also among those who opposed the teaching of science and mathematics in English in Chinese schools. 

“That’s why Chinese schools continue to use Mandarin for science and math subjects. In Malaysia, there is still compromise.” 

Puad said since it was neither a constitutional nor freedom of speech issue, he wondered why Lim – after retiring from politics and receiving the Tan Sri title – was still playing up 3R (race, religion, royalty) issues. 

He said at this rate, “the country needs another 100 years to mature”. 

Yesterday, Lim gave his statement to the police over his alleged “non-Malay prime minister” remarks made to Malaysian students in Manchester, United Kingdom late last month. – December 14, 2023.