PAS president Fadzil Noor today assured that any decision on the party's system of government will only be made after consultation with its partners in Barisan Alternatif (BA).

He said if PAS wins a two-third majority in parliament, it will not neglect to consider views from Keadilan and Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) regarding the matter.

"Before making any announcement to the rakyat, we will definitely table all possibilities to the BA presidential council. We will consider the impact and their reaction before making any decision. That was what we had agreed on.

"Our BA partners should not worry unnecessarily on how we are going to run the country. Everything will be discussed and sorted out before any decision is made. Don't worry...," Fadzil said in a telephone interview with malaysiakini .

He was responding to PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali's statement that PRM has rejected the idea of a theocratic state in multi-racial Malaysia because it believes in the concept of la ikraha fiddeen , meaning there is no force in religion.

Syed Husin also said that rulers professing a religion cannot impose a system of governance based solely on their beliefs, on a society which comprises people of other races, religions and cultures. He urged PAS to guarantee immediately that it will not implement an Islamic state by force if it wins the election.

Syed Husin was responding to Fadzil's keynote address at the party's 48th annual general assembly or muktamar on Friday in Kelantan where the latter outlined the seven principles of PAS' version of an Islamic state.

No force

Fadzil also told malaysiakini that he agreed with Syed Husin's statement that there is no compulsion in Islam and stressed that PAS will never resort to force in establishing any type of government including an Islamic one.

"I have said time and again that there will be no force. We cannot force people to accept us," he said.

He also agreed with Syed Husin that opposition leaders from BA should immediately stop squabbling over the Islamic state issue as it would only benefit the Barisan Nasional.

Meanwhile, Keadilan's supreme council member Khalid Jaffar said Syed Husin's statement should not be seen as an attack on PAS or Fadzil.

"To me, he was merely presenting the perceptions of non-Muslims and, maybe, liberal Muslims on the issue of Islamic state. I feel that he is concerned that people might get the wrong signal from PAS as this would affect the BA's struggle," he said.

Healthy attitude

However, Khalid disagreed that BA components be restrained from making statements or explanations of their respective ideologies.

"This is a healthy attitude and it is one of the reasons why we are better than BN who practises political punishment to dissenting components. There's no place for political hegemony in BA. That's why we are better than BN where Umno is known to force its other 'junior partners' [MCA and MIC] toe the line.

"Whatever it is, we have the 1999 manifesto to fall back on. Whatever our differences, we can cooperate as shown in the manifesto which will be broadened for the coming election," he said.

He also said that the Islamic state issue is not crucial to Keadilan which prefers to concentrate its struggle for a fair and just government in line with the Federal Constitution.

He however stressed that Keadilan's objectives are in line with the universal idealism of Islam, especially on matters pertaining to justice, democracy and human rights.