Malaysia as an Islamic State; DAP gives a big NO but PAS says why not?

In the occasion of his 70th Birthday on 28 June 2010, Karpal Singh DAP Chairman reiterated the Party's stand that it will oppose any moves to making Malaysia an Islamic state, themalaysianinsider has the story:


No Islamic state for DAP, says Karpal

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal June 28, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — Despite the seemingly concrete alliance between DAP and PAS under the umbrella of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and the rush for ulamas by secular parties Umno and PKR, DAP’s age-old stand against the formation of an Islamic state still remains.

While PR still dreams of capturing Putrajaya and ending Barisan Nasional’s (BN) iron grip on the country, the lingering question is: with the setting up of PR, is DAP now willing to accept PAS’s struggle to build an Islamic state in Malaysia?

For DAP national chairman Karpal Singh, the answer remains no.

“It is impossible for DAP to compromise on that. We cannot compromise for the country to turn into an Islamic state (if PR takes over the government in the future).

“It is a secular state. I believe the late Tunku Abdul Rahman has mentioned that before about Malaysia,” the veteran politician told The Malaysian Insider in an exclusive interview.

read the rest of the report here.

Two days later on 30 June 2010 comes a response from PAS Spiritual Leader Nik Aziz who Challenges Karpal Singh To Prove PAS' Islamic Policies Are Wrong. The story in full from Bernama:

KOTA BAHARU, June 30 (Bernama) -- PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat Wednesday challenged DAP chairman Karpal Singh to prove PAS' concept of an Islamic state, which had been implemented in Kelantan for 20 years now, to be wrong.

Nik Aziz, who is also Kelantan Menteri Besar, said he deemed Karpal Singh's rejection of PAS' idea of an Islamic state for Malaysia if the Pakatan coalition of DAP-PAS-PKR came into power, as the latter's own personal opinion.

"As long as they (who do not agree with PAS' policies) cannot prove that our Islamic policies are wrong, we will continue to strive to make Malaysia an Islamic state," he told reporters after chairing the weekly Kelantan state executive council meeting here.

He added that the DAP thus far had not objected to PAS' Islamic state concept and that only a "few leaders were grumbling about it."

Nik Abdul Aziz said this when asked to comment on Karpal Singh's comments in an interview with a news portal recently that he rejected PAS' concept of an Islamic state for Malaysia.

Nik Aziz is just trying to do damage control and tries to attribute Karpal's statement on an Islamic state as a personal opinion but the silent support from DAP head honcho Lim Kit Siang for Karpal is deafening.

I have always thought that the DAP and PAS with their totally differing political objectives will never make a political coalition that will last, both staying in the Pakatan coalition only made possible by Anwar Ibrahim whose party PKR is only interested to make Anwar as Prime Minister of Malaysia at any cost.

If Anwar is not able to defend himself from the sodomy allegation in his trial then he will face serious time in Prison. If Anwar is in prison, I predict that the glue cementing Pakatan will unravel, even Zaid Ibrahim or Azmin cannot replace the smooth talking chameleon like Anwar who have just cameback from kow towing in Washington.