Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang locked horns with Barisan Nasional (BN) backbenchers when he questioned Malaysia's status as an Islamic state in Parliament today.

During the debate on the Supply (Re-allocation of Appropriated Expenditure) Bill 2004 at the committee stage, Lim (DAP-Ipoh Timor) disputed the declaration by former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2001 that Malaysia is an Islamic state.

According to Bernama, he said based on the Federal Constitution and the social contract, Malaysia was a secular democracy with Islam as its official religion.

In view of this, he added that Malaysia should not be considered an Islamic state in whatever way or by way of declaration.

Lim also questioned why the head of government needed to be from among the Muslim community while in other democracies such as India, the prime minister was from a minority group.

This led House Deputy Speaker Lim Si Cheng to criticise the opposition leader, who was told to focus his speech on the Bill.

However, Lim ignored this and continued with his Islamic state debate and repeatedly stressed that Malaysia should not be considered as one.

He said any declaration or intention to turn Malaysia into an Islamic State went against the spirit of the Constitution.

"If the administration and defence of the country was held by Muslims then are non-Muslims in Malaysia not human beings? "he asked.

Tempers flare

At this point, tempers flared and the opposition leader became embroiled in verbal exchanges with several government backbenchers such as Amiruldin Badruddin (BN-Jerai), Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan), Zaid Ibrahim (BN-Kota Baharu) and Idris Haron (BN-Tangga Batu).

Amiruldin and Bung Mokhtar rose on a point of order to the words uttered by Lim but the opposition leader did not relent.

Lim's speech also drew the attention of Salehuddin Ayub (PAS-Kubang Kerian) who said PAS also aspired to set up an Islamic state but only after securing the support of the people.

Whereas, he added that Umno had already declared Malaysia an Islamic state.

Lim, who is also DAP chairperson, then responded by saying that Malaysians were more afraid of the Islamic government espoused by PAS than the declaration of Malaysia as an Islamic state made by the Umno-led government.

DAP and PAS were once allies in the Barisan Alternatif opposition front. However, the former left the front after crossing swords with PAS leaders over the Islamic State issue.