As the rhetoric in the Malaysian political arena turns more and more towards the racial-religious narrative, several issues have surfaced as the terms 'Islam' and 'Melayu' continue to be bandied about as political weapons by certain quarters.

An example is the open war of words between former opposition allies PAS and DAP and the branding of the DAP as 'anti-Islam' and a party good only for championing the cause of the Chinese community.

The planned implementation of the Islamic penal code, hudud, by PAS in Kelantan has rubbed socialist democrats the wrong way, leading to an open tiff that eventually led to the dissolution of the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat.

Of late, PAS seems to be moving closer and closer to a cooperation, if not a full-on political marriage with Malay-based Umno which leads the ruling BN coalition.

And with every step it takes, PAS has been seen to be more vociferous in its attacks against DAP, leading to a political stigma being splattered on the socialist democratic party.

Indeed, in a recent study , research house Darul Ehsan Institute (IDE) reportedly found that 72 percent of the Malays surveyed believe that the DAP is a Chinese-based party while 64 percent see the socialist democratic party as anti-Islam.

Many of these, the study discovered, were mainly rural Malays and notably PAS supporters.

And while the study also found that this perception was mainly the result of propaganda attacks on the DAP by the now loosely-allied PAS and Umno, the question remained if DAP itself had contributed to the negative light that these Malay-Muslims see them in.

Malaysiakini talked to a political analysts who say that, in counterpoint to the anti-DAP PAS/Umno propaganda, the socialist democratic party itself must share some of the blame.

Vocal anti-hudud stance main culprit

Ahmad Nizamuddin Sulaiman of Universiti kebangsaan Malaysia said that while on paper the DAP does not present a race-based or anti-Islam image, its actions speak otherwise.

"On paper, like in their party constitution and whatnot, there is nothing that says this. We have to be careful, for if they challenge it in court, they will win, based on this fact.

"But in spirit and by practice, their actions do show this (a certain bias)," Nizamuddin told Malaysiakini .

The political science lecturer claimed that while the DAP championed the cause of the downtrodden, he believed the party showed less ardour in doing so when Malays and Malay-centric issues were involved.

But more than just the a supposed racial skew, Nizamuddin also argued that it was the vocal, anti-hudud stance of the DAP that was the main culprit in promoting distrust and hatred among some of the Malays.

"Yes, PAS has been attacking DAP of late, mainly because of its disagreement with hudud. But when you talk about hudud, even some in Umno do not agree with it. But they are discreet about it, because it is a sensitive issue to the Malays.

"But the DAP is very vocal about its anti-hudud stand. Thus, the party is branded as anti-Islam," he argued.

Nizamuddin also claimed that the DAP administration in Penang, which appeared to be promoting high-end development projects, is seen by some quarters as systematically trying to displace Malays form the state.

"In general, Malays cannot afford properties that can range up to RM800,000 or more," he claimed.

All this, the lecturer opined, reinforced the perception that the DAP was anti-Islam and anti-Malay.

DAP needs cultural literacy

On the other hand, fellow political analyst Wong Chin Huat believes that key for DAP in fighting its anti-Islam stigma is to learn to inculcate 'cultural literacy' in its leaders and members.

"We can learn to speak Malay as a language. But we must also learn to understand the Malays culturally, and to know what their concerns are," Wong, who works for the DAP-linked Penang Institute told Malaysiakini .

While he believes it is possible to feel strongly about sensitive issues and disagree with others, it is important for those in the DAP to develop stronger emphathy when putting these views across and to always maintain respect for dissenting views.

This, Wong ( photo ) noted, was especially true when it came to 'Malays who only speak Malay' and who are already feeling they are under siege by the increasing prominence of the English language.

These persons, he added, must be given the assurance that they won't be left behind and that something would be done to help empower the Malay language and its speakers, while still embracing progress and the international lingua franca.

As an example, he noted that while Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming and Subang Jaya assemblyperson Hannah Yeoh are both staunch Christians, their constituencies recorded the lowest number of Malays who see DAP as anti-Islam, as per the IDE study.

This, Wong said, invoked the Malay proverb of tak kenal maka tak cinta, which roughly translates as 'you wouldn't love something that's not familiar'.

He said both Ong and Yeoh managed to reach out to the Malay electorate and assuage the fear that the DAP is anti-Islam and thus did not care about the Malays.

Wong also believes that instead of reactively responding to the smear campaign by just improving on communication, DAP should also consider proactive responses like offering its own policy to promote Malay language and culture that can be accepted by all.

Since Umno has failed to make many non-Malays love the Malay language because of its ethnic-centric policies, he concluded that the DAP should aim to offer its own alternative.