With reference to the letter written by Disappointed ( ' PAS will be a hungry tiger ' ), I would like to express my disagreement.

Firstly, I too watched Mustafa Ali's Hardtalk interview and I did not see Mustafa constantly shifting ground, saying different things to different people. What Mustafa did was merely state an existing policy of PAS with respect to different ethnic groups and religions.

The question of PAS being moderate to non-Muslims is not an issue considering PAS has always been a moderate party as opposed to Umno. For instance, PAS is against he Internal Security Act, Official Secrets Act, Printing Presses and Publications Act and many other draconian laws of the country. Not only that, PAS has promised to change those laws once it comes into power. That alone is a strong enough argument to prove that PAS is a moderate party.

As for PAS' image of being non-tolerant, it is mainly due to the fact that PAS has a stringent policy against vice as opposed to Umno and BN. Umno and BN not only allow vice but give their full backing to vice activity. Due to this alone, PAS is being painted as intolerant because the prevailing school of thought right now is that if you're intolerant to vice, you're intolerant.

The same goes to the other so-called Islamic parties or governments in the world which Disappointed paints them as intolerant. Why has this happened? Simple, because of their intolerance to vice.

We all know that there is very little advantage as compared to the disadvantages of rampant vice activities in our society. Drunk driving, adultery, break-up of family institutions, rape, etc, are all by-products of rampant vice activities.

As for Islamic governments being tolerant, there is 1,400 years worth of evidence to support that. Perhaps Disappointed was looking at the wrong place.

My belief is that PAS' strong stand against vice is the main factor behind Disappointed and Paul Warren's arguments that BN is a much better option to PAS despite BN's shortcomings.

On the other hand, secularism itself does not promise tolerance. Take, for example, Turkey. As a secular state, they are against any form of religious expression including the rights of a Muslim woman to wear a hijab . The then communist regime that once ruled Russia had its share of intolerance especially to religions. Even in America, prayers are not allowed in schools and public establishments. Religion is not tolerated at all by their government institutions.

The secularists are just as intolerant if you consider the abundance of evidence available. Secularism relies on persecution or alienating religion from the public sphere in order for it to survive. Any attempt by any religion to break this barrier will be deemed and viewed as an act of intolerance.

What Disappointed fails to realise is that PAS is merely adhering to the teachings of Islam in toto. It is not PAS that Disappointed disagrees with but Islam itself. Islam is 'political religion' and it has both the personal (spiritual) and public dimension.

In other words, for a religious person or body to be accepted as tolerant, he or they must be willing to submit to the whims and fancies of the intolerant secularists.

As for PAS' stand on Islamic state, it is a fact that there is no mention of Islamic state in the party constitution. Much like the fact that 'Malaysian Malaysia' is not mentioned in DAP's constitution or 'Ketuanan Melayu' not mentioned in Umno's constitution. It's merely a long-term objective of PAS that is shared by all members.

At the same time, PAS promises to adhere to Barisan Alternatif manifesto should the BA come into power. In other words, PAS does not abandon their long-term goal of establishing an Islamic state in Malaysia but at the same time PAS will rule the country (along with their Barisan Alternatif partner) according to the promise they make in the Barisan Alternatif manifesto.

Besides, for a 'Negara Islam' to be implemented, it requires a mandate given by the subjects of the state. This is to follow the example shown by the Prophet SAW when he established the Islamic state of Medina where the Islamic state was established after a clear mandate was given to the Prophet SAW by the people of Medina despite the people of Medina at that time were 90 percent non-Muslim

In other words, should PAS comes to power, PAS cannot impose the Islamic state on the people of Malaysia without a clear mandate given by the people of Malaysia. After all, there is no compulsion in Islam.