An Islamic doctor group today urged the Malaysian Medical Association to oppose the recent action of Malacca chief minister Mohd. Ali Rustam to terminate the contracts of panel doctors who were known to be opposition party members.

The Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia (Imam) said that the move must be challenged before other state governments followed suit.

"Imam, like most other professional organisations, believes that the termination order transgresses the very spirit of a living and true democracy, namely the right and freedom to one's political views and associations," its president Dr Musa Mohd. Nordin said in a press statement to malaysiakini .

Musa also expressed dismay over Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's support of the chief minister's statement that doctors aligned with the opposition would be removed from government panel clinics and similar rules would be applied to other professionals such as architects and lawyers.

The Star newspaper had on March 7 quoted the premier as saying that it was the right of the government to terminate the contracts of panel doctors and lawyers aligned to the opposition.

"At the latest count, 25 clinics have been affected by the Malacca state government termination order. Unless doctors and other professionals act in concert to oppose this termination order, the figure is expected to snowball and prove infectious to other state governments," Musa said.

He added that the appointment of panels to state agencies or departments should be based on professional merit and excellence in service record.

"Quite clearly, the doctors terminated have never been short on professional meritocracy since some have serviced the state diligently for well over 20 years," lamented Musa.

Musa also called on the prime minister and chief minister to rescind the termination order, with the latter to reinstate the affected doctors and resolve the matter amicably.

Meanwhile, the MMA continued to keep mum over the issue.

When contacted by malaysiakini today, a staff at the association's office said that the president does not intend to release any statements.

"We are aware of the issue and the president has been approached to comment on it before but he declined. I don't think he would release a statement either," she said.

In a related development, PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali in a press release today condemned the chief minister's action, calling it an act of vengeance on the Malays to sow fear among them so that they will support Umno and Barisan Nasional.

"About 90 percent of the doctors who have been victimised are Malays," said Syed Husin.

He also questioned Mohd Ali's decision to withdraw the state's fixed deposits amounting to about RM40 million in Bank Islam and Bumiputra-Commerce Bank on the basis of allegations that some staff of the two banks supported the opposition during the last elections.

"Such action can affect the business of the banks concerned. Worse still, it can affect public and commercial confidence in the banking system of this country, here and abroad," he said.

It has been reported that Bank Negara, together with the two banks will also investigate claims on breach of secrecy involving some of the staff of these banks. Prior to this, Mahathir had raised the question of disclosure of some customer's banking secrets through the Internet.