DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang is right that opposition parties ignore at their own peril the implications of the Sept 11 events on international and domestic politics. If the Lunas by-election in Kedah, for instance, was held later this month, and not on Nov 29 last year, its outcome would have been very different.

What is foremost in people's mind is that although misgovernance by the ruling coalition should be opposed, it is however a weakness that can be rectified given the appropriate pressure being applied by an awakened and literate electorate, conscious and vigilant of their democratic rights.

In that context, misgovernance per se though a depredation is however the lesser of the two evils when compared to the politics of radical or religious extremism that culminated in the Sept 11 events. Whereas misgovernance can be negotiated and rectified, given time, extremism is destructive in nation building.

How does one interpret the direction of Lim's statement?

It explains PBS' application to rejoin the Barisan Nasional (BN). Most non-Muslim bumiputra, Kadazan, Dusun and Chinese supporters within the PBS have after Sept 11 supported the re-entry of PBS to the multi-racial and religious moderate politics of BN.

The Sept 11 events had also swung the DAP delegates to make the decisive call to break from the PAS-dominated Barisan Alternatif (BA).

The effects of Sept 11 were even felt in recent Keadilan AGM in which the Abim faction lost out to the more multiracial/religious faction.

Looking at the global scene it may be asked whether Malaysia will have any chance at attracting investors from developed countries of North America, Europe and Japan if she were to be controlled and run by a government perceived by these countries as extremist and radical.

The tide of political and radicalised Islam that has begun since the Iranian Revolution and spread to Algeria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Tunisia, Syria, Qattar, Yemen, etc. has now received the attention of the world and steps are taken to reverse and counter, marginalise and neutralise it as an ideology that spawns extremism among some of its followers.

This puts PAS' brand of ideology based on the more rigid and conservative Wahibbism of Saudi's in a very difficult position and wrong side of the current worldwide sentiments.

The declaration by Premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad that Malaysia was already an 'Islamic state', meaning that Malaysia has already all attributes of an Islamic state without the baggage of extremism, takes the wind out of PAS' bag among even the more devout Muslim electorate.

Yet there is very little room for PAS to move when its raison d'etre is to establish a pure Islamic state following the purist model 1,600 years ago. The very ground on which it seeks to rival, out-do and out-Islamise and differentiate itself from Umno has been discredited and shaken domestically and internationally by the attacks on World Trade Center and Pentagon.

DAP has always wanted a political collaboration with a political party that has strong Malay support, and if PAS cannot provide it, it will have to be Keadilan and PRM that take up this challenge by making a break from PAS.