Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang today alleged there is an attempt to detain him under the Internal Security Act (ISA) following the undue prominence and slant given to his parliamentary debate on the Islamic state by Malay daily Utusan Malaysia.

The daily had carried a front-page headline report yesterday entitled ' Kit Siang questions Islamic state '. Another front-page headline report in the daily today quoted Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein as warning the veteran politician ' Don't play with fire '.

"Going by precedent, the Utusan Malaysia front-page headline report yesterday was the first step to prepare for a political onslaught against me," Lim told reporters after a meeting with the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) in Kuala Lumpur.

He pointed out that similar headlines had preceded two previous 'political onslaughts' over the Suqiu (Malaysian Chinese Organisation Election Appeals Committee) controversy in 2000 and in mass ISA arrests under the Operasi Lalang in 1987.

Lim said Utusan 's headline report was unusual as the vernacular daily had treated him as a 'non-person' in the past.

" Utusan Malaysia refused to report even a single paragraph of my more than five-hour speech on parliament's opening day although I had specifically spoken on the plight of Felda settlers and Orang Asli," he said.

Following the two reports in Utusan , Lim - who is also the DAP chief and Ipoh Timor MP - said many people were now 'fearful for my political future and even safety' as he might be detained for the third time under the ISA, which allows for indefinite detention without trial.

Datuk rapped

In his more than three decades as a politician, Lim has been detained twice under the notorious security act.

His first stint was for 17 months after the May 13 riots in 1969, and the second during Operasi Lallang in 1987 for one and a half years.

Asked whether he was worried on whether the ISA would again be used on him, Lim replied, "I will take it as it comes".

The DAP supremo also slammed Utusan Malaysia for twisting and distorting his facts with regards to his comments in parliament on the Islamic state issue.

Lim said he had not questioned why the head of government in Malaysia was a Muslim but why the government states that the prime minister must be a Muslim in accordance with its definition of an Islamic state.

He said the federal constitution stated that the premier's post is open to all Malaysians.

"I was very careful about what I said about Islam and the Islamic state in Parliament, and this is why I will not allow anyone, including Utusan Malaysia and Bernama to distort what I had said," he stressed.

Lim also rapped Malaysian Malay Journalists Association president Yazid Othman who had responded to the issue claiming that Lim's remarks were '... not only extreme but also contained seditious elements'.

"I congratulate Yazid for the recent conferment of his Datuk-ship by the Yang di Pertuan Agong but I hope that it is for his contribution to journalism to establish a free and responsible press and not for his propagandistic subservience," he said.

Najib: Non-issue

Meanwhile, Bernama reported Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak as saying that the prime minister of Malaysia being a Muslim was a non-issue.

He said since the majority party in Parliament is Umno, the head of government is chosen from that party.

Najib added that this had always been the practice and the people had accepted this and there was no reason for the DAP leader to raise the issue now.

"I do not know as to what is Kit Siang's aim in raising this matter as for Malaysians it is a non-issue and there is no dispute about it," he added.

Najib said there was indeed no provision in the federal constitution stipulating that the head of government should be a Muslim.

"But by convention it is such. If things are working well, why should we bring it up as an issue," he added.