An Islamic state brought about by the growth rate of the Malay-Muslim population will relegate non-Muslims to a politically negligible minority and consign anti-Islamic state sentiments to irrelevance, DAP leaders said.

At a dialogue held in Petaling Jaya last night, they compared Umno's declaration in 2001 with PAS' Islamic state document launched on Nov 12.

The upshot of their argument was that either option would prove to be the road to hell for Malaysians - unless they transfer sufficient votes to DAP in the coming general election in order "to preserve the democratic and secular constitution".

DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang and publicity secretary Ronnie Liu claimed that overzealous Barisan Nasional leaders have been trying to turn Malaysia into an Islamic state ever since ex-premier and Umno head Dr Mahathir Mohamad described it as an Islamic country ( negara Islam ) in 2001.

Now that PAS has upped the ante with its blueprint, its competition with Umno is creating a slow but sure transformation of the country, the DAP leaders said.

Liu said: "Even MCA, Gerakan, MIC and SUPP leaders have became apologists overnight for the cause and have unashamedly described Umno's Islamic state with such oxymorons as 'secular Islamic state'

"The DAP has managed to block some, but not all, of these Islamisation policies measures so far. We may not be able to do that any more if the DAP does not succeed in winning more seats in the coming general election."

In August, the DAP mounted a national campaign , 'Democratic and secular Malaysia forever', opposing any form of Islamic state by any political party. This continued efforts begun in 2002 under the ' No to 929 ' campaign, which reflected the date - Sept 29 - of Mahathir's assertion.

'Fact of life'

DAP vice-president and MP for Kepong Dr Tan Seng Giaw stressed the urgency of challenging Malaysia's seemingly Islamic transformation, but suggested that the impetus be derived from a different set of dynamics altogether.

He said it was the vicissitudes of demography and transformation of its racial make-up that are bringing Malaysians face to face with the spectre of an Islamic state.

The current population growth rate among Malay-Muslims surpasses that of the non-Malay, non-Muslim population. It is dwindling to proportions that will render the voice of the Chinese, in particular, inaudible and their numbers politically negligible, he said.

"We do not know for sure, because demography is very difficult (to predict), but if the trend continues and the proportion of non-Muslims decreases, maybe in 15 years (we will be) reduced to 15-20 percent. Then this PAS Islamic state document may become a fact of life."

The population of Chinese, reported to be at six million, is projected to fall to 18 percent in less than two decades due to declining birth rates relative to the Malays.

It is because of this development that the Islamic state is a source of real concern and alarm to non-Muslims, while a source of comfort and complacence to PAS, Tan said.

He claimed that PAS is currently more concerned with its long-term objective of winning the states of Kedah, Perlis and Pahang, rather than to attract non-Muslim votes through its Islamic state document.

'Reject the concept'

Tan then urged the audience of about 35 to familiarise themselves with the terminology of Islamic politics.

Only three Muslims were in the audience - Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia secretary-general Azizuddin Ahmad, Muslim Students Association secretary-general Azuan Effendy Zaira, and Shah Kirit of Saba Islamic Media.

"These are the terms we will be referring to in the years to come, so we might as well get familiar with them," he explained.

In the same breath, however, he called on Malaysians to reject the possibility of an Islamic state in the first place - whether a la Umno or the PAS - in the interests of upholding democratic principles.

"The Islamic state is an Islamic state - there is no such thing as a moderate or extremist Islamic state... I can ensure you that people like us have no place and no way to interpret it," he said.

Non-Muslims would be marginalised from the political processes on account of their religious identity, and because they lack tools to deal directly with the Islamic scriptures which are in classical Arabic, he said.

He said ruling the country with religion would be unacceptable to its multi-racial, multi-religious society.

"It is a sure road to chaos and, if I may say, to hell," he added somewhat dramatically.