|
Malaysian Opposition Alliance May Collapse Over Islamic State Row
KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 (News Agencies) - Malaysia's opposition alliance may collapse if its dominant member refuses to forsake its aim of establishing an Islamic state, a member party warned Monday.
The Alternative Front is now at a crossroads as Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) leaders have openly disregarded their partners' opposition to an Islamic state, said Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Lim Kit Siang.
"Any proposal to salvage the Alternative Front can only succeed if the message can be sent out loud and clear to Malaysians that a vote for (the Front) in the next election is not a vote for an Islamic state," Lim said.
The National Justice Party led by the wife of jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, and the Malaysian People's Party, are also in the Alternative Front along with the PAS and DAP.
PAS leaders have upset DAP recently with comments reiterating that their top priority is to set up an Islamic state if they replace Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's National Front in national government.
The Chinese-dominated DAP lost support in the 1999 general election amid fears among the minority race about its alliance with the Malay-Muslim PAS.
Lim, in a statement, said the opposition coalition was formed on "commonly agreed principles based on the restoration of justice, freedom, democracy and good governance" and not solely to serve PAS objectives.
In the next general election, which must be called by 2004, Lim said voters faced with the choice of an Islamic state and a sixth term for Mahathir as prime minister would choose the latter.
Syed Husin Ali, president of the allied Malaysian People's Party, urged DAP and PAS leaders to halt their bickering and iron out their differences in private.
PAS leaders should realize that an Islamic state can only be brought about by amending the federal constitution, which requires approval by a two-thirds parliamentary majority, he said.
The Alternative Front gained ground among ethnic Malays in the 1999 polls, with PAS as the major beneficiary. But Mahathir's ruling coalition still controls two-thirds of the seats in parliament.
Malays make up more than half of Malaysia's 23 million people, with Chinese accounting for 25 percent and Indians seven percent.
PAS, which controls eastern Kelantan and Terengganu, has imposed Islamic laws in the two states including a ban on gambling, curbing alcohol sales and having separate pay tills at supermarkets for men and women.
Yesterday Malaysia said it has implemented Islamic laws to the extent that is possible in a country whose population is not 100 percent Muslim according to statements by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to the Malaysian news agency Sunday.
The government took into account the realities of the country when implementing Islamic laws, said the Prime Minister.
A study carried out by the government revealed that no Muslim country had managed to implement the hudud (Islamic penal) law in full, he said during a dialogue with students at the "Symposium on Reaffirming the Idealism of Undergraduates in the New Millennium" at Universiti Malaya. .
Mahathir was commenting on PAS's accusation that the government was secular because it did not implement the hudud law.
|
