By IANS
Kuala Lumpur : Malaysia’s opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) has said it accepts Islam as the country’s official religion as long as there are no plans to turn the country into an Islamic state.
DAP, which entered into an alliance with the Pan Islamic Malaysian Party (PAS) and the Parti Keadalan Rakyat (PKR) to forge the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, said it opposed the introduction of the Hudood laws prescribed under Islamic jurisprudence.
The suggestion that Malaysia turn into an Islamic state and introduce Hudood laws has been made by the PAS. The opposition front won 82 seats in parliament and controls five states after last month’s elections.
According to DAP’s Indian origin chairperson Karpal Singh, he had no quarrel with PAS except for its fundamental ideology to turn Malaysia into an Islamic state and introduce Hudood laws.
Karpal Singh said the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, comprising the three parties, could defeat the Barisan Nasional in the next general election provided PAS did not insist on turning the country into an Islamic state or seek the introduction of Hudood laws.
On Sunday, PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat had criticised Karpal Singh for saying that PAS should not dream about becoming the backbone of the proposed coalition and establishing an Islamic state in the country.
“The Chinese and Indians in Kelantan (opposition-run state) are happy, but that doesn’t mean that they subscribe to the creation of an Islamic state,” Singh was quoted as saying in The Star newspaper.
He said the DAP accepted Islam as the official religion of the country as guaranteed under the federal constitution.
Chinese settlers form 33 percent and ethnic Indians eight percent of Malaysia’s multi-religious population of 28 million.