The PAS research centre has urged DAP to respond to a book authored by Iain Buchanan, an academic from New Zealand titled "Sang Nila Utama and the Lion of Judah: Dominionism and Christian Zionism in Malaysia".

The centre's director Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki claimed that Buchanan's book, which was published in 2015, clearly mentioned the involvement of DAP leaders such as Lim Guan Eng and Hannah Yeoh.

"For example, from pages 26 to 34, under the subheading 'Dominionism: Lesson from Penang', the writer mentioned the involvement of the Penang government headed by DAP.

"Lim and Yeoh are mentioned under this subheading. The PAS research centre views this as a more important matter which DAP must respond to," he added in a statement.

The introduction for Buchanan's book, based on an online check, stated among others that there are few countries in the world where the pattern of ethnic and religious belonging is as complex as it is in Malaysia.

"And yet, for half a century, with one serious lapse, the country has managed to live peacefully with itself. In recent years, however, global geopolitics have begun to disturb the fabric of domestic coexistence in new ways - especially through the import of religious extremism. In the process, religious and ethnic sensitivities have been sharpened and sometimes deliberately (and perilously) confounded.

"This book attempts to clarify the role of one set of actors - those Western evangelicals, and their local proxies, who subscribe to the ideologies of Christian Zionism and Christian Dominionism. In pursuit of the systematic Christian transformation of Malaysia, both stress the unity of religious and secular action. And both are gaining ground in national life.

"Their success is due to a number of factors: the most important of these are the mass offensive launched by foreign evangelical agencies, the power of supportive geopolitics, the efficiency of local evangelical networks, and the play of local ethnic and religious politics.

"The interplay of these is examined in detail in an attempt to discover how Christian Dominionists and Christian Zionists (who comprise just two to three percent of the population) aim to transform the wider national society of one strategic, and largely Muslim, Asian country, among others, attemped to to clarify the role of one set of actiors in Malaysia," read the introduction.

DAP not keen on clearing name

Zuhdi had raised this issue in the wake of Yeoh, who is the Selangor state assembly speaker, filing a police report against Universiti Utara Malaysia's lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusoff over his essay which branded the Subang Jaya assemblyperson as the "biggest hypocrite" in DAP.

Kamarul's essay, which was based on Yeoh's book titled 'Becoming Hannah', touched on the alleged Christianisation agenda.

Commenting on this, Zuhdi said the PAS research centre welcomed Kamarul's disclosure, but claimed that DAP did not seem keen on clearing its name with regard to the accusations made.

He said DAP leaders appeared to be distancing themselves from the matter, and placing the burden of response on Yeoh alone.

"This shows DAP is worried the issue would explode," he added.

Zuhdi said if the allegations were true, DAP not only stood to lose Malay/Muslim votes, but also the support of Chinese voters who are Buddhists.

As for Buchanan's book, the PAS research centre director said the author had put forth his research during a conference in Malaysia, which was officiated by the then higher education deputy minister Saifuddin Abdullah.