Top leaders and several invited members of Keadilan and PRM will meet this Sunday to discuss the contentious Islamic state issue as well as plans to counter-attack Barisan Nasionals propaganda in the coming general election.

Keadilan supreme council member Ng Lum Yong said such talks were part of opposition front Barisan Alternatifs ongoing strategy and several dialogues have already been held with the leaders of fellow member PAS.

Ng said the party is not in favour of attacking PAS on this issue, adding that there are two ways to deal with it.

We can attack PAS like (former BA ally) DAP or we can talk to them and persuade them to understand the views of non-Malays, he told malaysiakini .

So far, PAS is listening and we are making good progress with them, he added.

The discussion, to be held at Keadilans new building in Shah Alam, is expected to be attended by top leaders from both parties.

It is learnt that both parties are resorting to such dialogues as their grassroots members have raised concerns about PAS intention and its implication on the opposition front.

Recently, several Keadilan leaders said PAS should reassess its Islamic state platform and the implementation of hudud law in Terengganu as both were not acceptable to non-Muslims who form 45 percent of the citizenry.

Also, the country is rife with speculation about an early election which the opposition believes may be brought forward from the scheduled 2004 as the ruling BN appears to be confident of regaining the peoples support.

The BN is expected to manipulate the Islamic state issue to lure non-Malay/Muslim supporters back into its fold while PAS is expected to rally stronger behind it to maintain its Muslim votes.

Although Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has declared Malaysia an Islamic state, this revelation had been dismissed by the opposition and the issue continues to be a bone of contention between PAS  which wants to adopt theocracy if it comes to power  and DAP  which says secularism is the best solution for multi-religious Malaysia.

Unable to resolve the issue with PAS, DAP left BA in September last year and has been persistently campaigning to preserve Malaysias secular state status.

Merger

Meanwhile, Ng said the programme this Sunday will also raise the PRM-Keadilan merger issue, which has been stalled since November last year.

The proposed merger between the two parties had divided Keadilan as members who opposed the deal  who were mostly aligned to the Malaysian Muslim Youth Movement or Abim  had distanced themselves from the party.

But Ng said the party was in no hurry to force the merger as many members still did not understand its implications.

We are still going to the ground to explain. We want people to really understand and accept our views before we implement it (merger), he said.