Malaysians must prepare for the next general election by uniting to vote solidly to endorse Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman's legacy call "Don't turn Malaysia into an Islamic State", said DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang.

In a media statement issued last night, Lim urged Malaysians to defend the 1957 Merdeka Constitution, the "social contract" and the 1963 Malaysia Agreement that "Malaysia is a democratic, secular and multi-religious nation with Islam as the official religion".

"Malaysia is not an Islamic state, whether ala-Umno or ala-PAS," he stressed.

Royal Address

The DAP chief pointed out that the Barisan Nasional government has taken the "Islamic state" declaration by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Sept 29, 2001 as a major step forward by including it in the King, Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Syed Putra Jamalullail's speech at the official opening of Parliament o­n March 10, 2003.

In his Royal Address in the Dewan Rakyat, the King had called o­n Malaysians to "understand the meaning of an Islamic state".

Lim said the Royal Address at the official opening of parliament is a speech drafted by the government, and not by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, to outline the government's policy .

"Therefore, the BN leaders must apologise for agreeing to include the Islamic state declaration into the Royal Address since the King's speech should be non-partisan and non-controversial," said the former parliamentary Opposition Leader.

Centrepiece

Lim said it is clear that Mahathir's declaration of Malaysia as an Islamic state is not for "talk" o­nly, but is meant to be the centerpiece of the new policies of the BN government.

He recalled that the Mahathir administration had also included the call for a "one language, o­ne culture" nation in the Royal Address after the 1982 general election which was opposed by DAP.

At the time, there was the Kepayang by-election in Ipoh, Perak, and the DAP's by-election campaign theme was to oppose that policy (as stated in the Royal Address) and to demand that Malaysia remained a nation of many languages, cultures and religions.

"The DAP won a resounding vote of support from the people in the Kepayang by-election which gave a major boost to the nation-wide campaign to reject the assimilation approach to nation-building and the policy of "one language, o­ne culture"," he said.

Lim claimed that has resulted in Mahathir publicly admitting more than a decade later of the mistake of trying to pursue an assimilation nation-building policy at the beginning of his administration.

"Since there won't be any by-election from now o­n, the next general election would be the last opportunity for Malaysians to take a stand whether they support the jettisoning of the Merdeka Constitution and agree to Malaysia being turned into an Islamic state," he added.