State and religion may be two different things in a multi-religion/racial country. But in Islam, all knowledge that leads to goodness is religion, besides the official scriptures of religion. Muslims must not forget that in Islam, the universe is also a holy book, from which knowledge can be derived for salvation.

Salvation in Islam is not just adhering to rituals but also to serve humanity endlessly and create a just world, to the best of one's ability. Thus, in Islam, state, which means the running of a country, and religion, are not separate.

But too often, there are politicians who do not know how to merge Islam with the state. They manipulate Islam to promote their ideologies, be it reactionary, conservative or liberal.

This is the case with both the government and opposition in Malaysia. PAS promotes reaction, while Umno promotes liberalism, both of which deviate from Islam's middle path which balances progress, socialism and conservatism.

One has to Islamise politics and not politicise Islam. This is the true meaning of Islamic state which very few politicians in the world realise.

To Islamise politics means committing oneself, as a leader, to bust corruption and immoral conduct forbidden by the Holy Quran and Sunnah , but with due consideration to the rights of non-Muslims.

This means not bullying women Saudi-style, confining them to baby-caring and sex-slavery, and not manipulating women Yankee-style, encouraging them to virtually cut the cloth shorter by the ages.

This does not just mean cleaning up the system, but also establishing checks-and-balances institutions, such as ombudsmen, and an independent judiciary; and issuing rational guidelines which give Muslims a modern-yet-puritanical social code that enhances the level of discipline to make them worthy of being Muslims, heirs of the Prophet.

This means forcing people with authority to be accountable for all their actions, be they politicians, ulamas or Sultans.

Killing oppressive policies such as detention without trial, and land speculation, besides pollution-pampering, would also be Islamising politics. After all, Islam is Green.

Islamising politics does not mean falling into the trap of cosmeticist Islamism, like building more mosques and think-tanks that only know how to bodek (suck up). That is still secularism, as is practising fitnah , a popular tactic of BN, PAS and Keadilan.

Foreign policy being Islamised means making sure no cruel tyrant or imperialist government is subjected to bodek . Trade with the horrid monsters should only be confined to the very necessary, such as technology for our country's growth.