Kings, ministers and the people are not above the law: Mahathir
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad last week said Malaysia was now a country governed by the law. He added in no uncertain terms: No one is above the law!
“Malaysia’s laws are its supreme foundation that every citizen must obey regardless of his or her station in life,” he said.
Dr Mahathir made the statement during his monthly assembly with government officials in Putrajaya, the administrative city of Malaysia.
“No one is above the law. Not the king, the ministers or officials. The people also are not above the law,” he reminded the officials.
Tun Mahathir also said laws were how democracies avoid the tyranny of the majority, by ensuring the rights of the minorities are equally protected.
In the live telecast on Facebook, the PM, however, said the Pakatan Harapan government had to change some laws to advance its reform agenda.
He said the government needed a two-thirds majority to get rid of some redundant laws and to implement new ones.
Dr Mahathir holds these regular events to remind the civil servants of their duties and of the consequences if they work against the current government.
He also takes the opportunity to address the public in general on issues of corruption, abuse of the law and to perform their civic duties.
In August, Dr Mahathir said there will be no return to absolute monarchy in Malaysia.
There are no plans to return power to the King to reject laws passed by Parliament, said the Prime Minister in Parliament in August
“We are a democratic nation, where the voice of the people, who decides everything.
“Thus, we have agreed to give the King his position, and the King is aware of the laws passed by the people in both Houses in Parliament.
“If the King is given absolute power to reject laws, it would mean a loss of the peoples’ power, and we are (then) no more a democracy but an absolute monarchy,” he said when he replied to a supplementary question raised by Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (GPS-Santubong) in Parliament on Aug 14.