I refer to the malaysiakini report Hishammuddin's warning: Hey MCA! Shut up! It is most regrettable that Umno Youth has asked its coalition partner MCA to stop making statements that Malaysia is a secular state. It is also most unfortunate that public debate on the matter has come to a grinding halt when the Internal Security Ministry ordered the mainstream media to stop publicising the issue.

I would like to state clearly that ceasing public debate on Najib's declaration of Malaysia as an Islamic state smacks of arrogance and childish and ignores our nation's history of independence 50 years ago. Hishammuddin has robbed our Malaysian youth of their appreciation of the struggle of our forefather's fight for independence and how our constitution was drafted.

It was in 1956 that a Constitutional Commission headed by Lord Reid came to Malaya to help draft the constitution for an independent Malaya. It was in this process that Umno was asked to agree to a 'common nationality for the whole of the Federation'. That is to say, that 'all persons are allowed to qualify as citizens either by birth or by fulfilling requirements of residence and language and by taking an oath of loyalty'.

The origin of the social contract was that the Umno-MCA-MIC alliance was to speak with one voice to the Commission, which they did. MCA acknowledged that the special rights of the Malays should be protected, and Umno in return conceded that Chinese and other non-Malays should be granted easier citizenship rights and play a dominant role in the economy.

It is therefore most selfish for Umno to tell MCA to 'shut up'when the Chinese community has contributed much to the Malaysian economy. Our nation would not be where it is today, if not for the contribution made by the Chinese community and other non-Malay communities. To say that Islam is a sensitive issue and cannot be discussed shows that they are missing the point. How are Malaysians of different races going to achieve maturity by understanding each other and help in the process of national development when such discussions are curbed?

The main core of the social contract as stated in the memorandum submitted by the Alliance was that, 'Islam would be the State religion, but that other religions would be practiced in harmony and shall not imply that the State is not a secular State'. It does not state that secular is a bad word in Islam.

The Merdeka Constitution provisions provided the framework for the 1963 Federal Constitution. The latter provided the guarantee of special rights and privileges of the Malays, the national language and religion without depriving the rights of non-Muslims. In short, the constitution was formulated through consultation and consensus of our nation's founding fathers, and is based on the social contract on which this nation is founded.

For Najib Razak or Hishammuddin to state that Malaysia is an Islamic state, without any public debate, is a clear breach of the social contract on which our country is founded. It is most irresponsible for Umno leaders to exploit religion to gain selfish political mileage at the expense of the nation's security. This has rendered the celebration of 'Merdeka' this year meaningless as their unjust actions have ignored the rights of non-Muslim Malaysians to have a voice in nation- building.

The writer is a Dapsy committee member.