Fadzil Noor, the 63-year-old Opposition Leader in Parliament and the president of Parti Islam Semalaysia (PAS), is widely acclaimed as the "cool" leader. He leaves the aggressiveness and firebrand action to the younger ones in the party.

Talking to Fadzil, one gets the impression this is the mastermind of the opposition.

An Al-Azhar University graduate from Cairo, Egypt, who later became a lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Fadzil is a picture of calm and seriousness. Not a picture one would associate with street demonstrations, fiery speeches and of all things, the political opposition, especially in a country where the ruling coalition constantly paints the picture of the opposition as troublemakers.

Although Fadzil has been a PAS member since 1967, he only stood in elections for the Bukit Raya state seat in 1986, and since then, has remained its representative. He is also the Opposition Leader in the Kedah State Assembly. The last general elections was the first time he won the parliamentary seat of Pendang, Kedah.

Proud of opposition performance

Fadzil recalls the past one year as a year to remember for the opposition in parliament.

He reports with pride that the opposition parliamentarians have taken an active part in all debates on all issues. The MPs have been quite instrumental in raising issues with the people in mind and also in raising controversial issues such as corruption, misuse of the PM's powers and the position of the Chief Justice.

"Although the MPs have played their part, there is still much room for improvement especially on the research side. We MPs are not provided any allocation for research officers and research is very much needed if we want to present a good debate.

"Nevertheless, we have managed to tackle even technical issues as we have among us various types of professionals. We have also raised 'hot' issues such as the Anwar matter," he said.

Fadzil added the opposition were still faced with the problem of getting private bills to be debated in Parliament.

He referred to the failure by the opposition to get the "Terengganu-Petronas royalty" issue to be debated in Parliament.

Referring to the recent Lunas win, Fadzil said that it is harder now for the BN to pass bills in the Kedah state assembly easily as they have lost their two thirds' majority. He pointed out, however, that a strong opposition will not be effective if the number is still not a majority.

A case in point here, he said, was the Putrajaya bill which was endorsed by the Selangor state assembly and brought to the Parliament.

Fadzil stated that this is where the opposition needs to be stronger to object to changes that are not for the benefit of the rakyat .

Another reason, he said, on why the opposition has not been able to play its role to maximum effectiveness was that the Malaysian parliament had more holidays than the number of the days it actually meets.

"Furthermore, the government bills are arranged in such a way that even when the parliament adjourns, only the government bills would have got through and there is hardly any time for private bills.

Shedding extremist image

"Look at the last day of parliament for this year, yesterday Dec 14. Only three hours are allocated to debate a dozen bills," he said.

Fadzil said that he hopes more time will be allocated for Parliament sittings.

When PAS formed the BA coalition with Keadilan, PRM and DAP, many including PAS members, questioned whether PAS had mellowed and given up its principles.

"The question of whether we gave up our principles does not exist in this case. We have stated in the BA manifesto that our ideologies do not change by entering BA. It is just that PAS has always been perceived as an extremist party.

"If we try to shed the perceived 'extremist' image by ourselves, it would be quite difficult. With us joining BA, this perception of us being an extremist is being shed slowly, especially among the non-Muslims.

"Despite our different ideologies, we work on the same platform of justice and democracy," said Fadzil.

With problems brewing in Umno, Fadzil said that views from Umno members like Shahrir Samad added to the problems of Umno.

"It is not only Umno that is faced with an internal conflict. Even MCA and MIC seem to have internal conflicts. This is why we need to work harder to attract those who are leaving BN parties.

"As a coalition of parties without power, we have proven to the rakyat our sincerity and willingness to work hard," he said.

On the impending decision by DAP whether to opt out of BA, Fadzil said that the problem cropped up during the Lunas by-election.

"The media states the reason DAP wants to leave is so as not to be seen supporting the Islamic state concept of PAS. I am sure there are other reasons for this but the media seems to be only playing up this reason.

"This is actually not something new as MCA has constantly highlighted that when DAP works hand in hand with PAS, DAP is for an Islamic state. We can see that people are not buying that anymore as is evident with the Lunas victory.

"I hope DAP will stay on in BA as this is what the BN wants - for us to break up. They have constantly looked for ways to divide us," said Fadzil.

Islamic state

Agreeing that the term "Islamic state" is still not understood properly by Muslims and non-Muslims alike, Fadzil stressed that it is not a state concept which can be achieved immediately or in the very near future.

"The real definition and practice of an Islamic state has been left far behind by the Muslims, especially after the fall of the Uthmaniyan (Ottoman) Empire and also with the rise of European civilization.

"To come back to the true concept of an Islamic state, a long time is needed," he said.

(The original concept of an Islamic state is a state run according to guidelines provided by the Quran and the Sunnah .)

Fadzil said that PAS understands that Malaysia is composed of more than one race and religion; quite different from countries such as Iran where the population is 100 percent Muslim and of the same culture.

"Malaysia cannot be compared to Iran, where a whole new state concept by the government was formed through a revolution. Here, we practise democracy where the government is elected in an electoral process. Only when the rakyat agree to the changes, can we introduce the concept.

"Our main concern is more on the question of substance - of living in moderation, basic rights and justice. We will not do anything that is opposed by the people," he said.

On the statement by the Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi that street demonstrations held by the opposition imitated the " intifada " of the Palestinians, Fadzil noted that what was taking place in Malaysia and in Palestine were two different things.

"When he says that, it is almost as if saying that Palestinians are fighting to bring down a legitimately elected government. It is akin to recognising Israel as a legitimate government," Fadzil said, adding that Abdullah seemed to belittle the Palestinian fight for the return of their homeland.

People's right to demonstrate

"The demonstrations held here are peaceful demonstrations. It is held as the people have no opportunity to know what is exactly happening. It is our constitutional right.

"Many a time, the demonstrations have become unruly due to mishandling by the police. During the demonstration against the nonpayment of royalty to Terengganu at the Finance Ministry recently, there was no problem when the police did their duties properly," he said.

On the accusation that PAS has been opportunistic in playing up the Anwar Ibrahim issue, Fadzil stated that when they stood up for Anwar, it was for the sake of justice and humanity.

"Although Anwar did say a lot of things against PAS when he was in Umno, we still stand up for him as we do not practise revengeful politics. I agree that it is the PM's right to sack his deputy but the way he went about it was wrong. Maybe the BN plays revenge politics and they never thought that PAS would actually side a man who used to criticise PAS," said Fadzil.

Many will be surprised to learn that Fadzil and Anwar go back a long way.

"We were in Abim together in the early 70s. When he was the president, I was the deputy and when he was taken into custody in Kamunting in 1974, I became the acting president.

"In the 1978 general elections, PAS was kicked out of BN. Anwar was then asked to join Umno. We discussed this and I objected strongly. But Anwar said he wanted to introduce Islam into Umno. We stayed as close friends despite our political differences.

"When he was sacked and shamed in such a manner in 1998, it is natural for PAS to stand up against such injustice.

"Even though he had attacked PAS, we should not hold grudges," Fadzil said, stressing that this was the Muslim way.

Women's role in PAS

Another issue that has had PAS in hot water many times is its perceived image of what a woman should be.

Said Fadzil, "As in all parties, PAS has its own women's wing. In fact, our relationship with women's wings in BA is good. You can see that during elections and other programmes, women come down and help together with the men. We may not have all those ' Kelab Wanita ' which is set up by the government using the taxpayer's money.

"The critics must also realise that we are a new coalition and we have not had enough time to plan the role of women in BA. Yes, the participation of women in BA is smaller if compared to BN's but we are new.

"We have our reasons why PAS did not field women in the last general elections. We are reviewing that to see whether Muslimat PAS (the women's wing) should stand in the next general elections.

"I am also worried of groups such as the 'Sisters in Islam' as they seem to be influenced by the feminist movement of the West. We have our culture and values and we should fight in line with Islamic traditions. Actually, I am not sure what they are asking for when they criticise our policies on women," said Fadzil.

On restrictions placed on the mass media, Fadzil said that PAS had moved to the Internet as it was the only available and practical avenue now for mass communication.

"When we agreed to boycott the media, it was to stop the buying of certain newspapers. But we could not stop talking to them as that puts us in a dilemma. If we do not talk to them, the mainstream press say that we do not practise democracy but if we talk to them, they twist and turn our words.

"They lessened the number of times we can publish Harakah . Our application to start our daily was also not entertained. So we increased our ceramahs to spread the message to the people, especially the kampung people. Now, they are stopping even our ceramahs ."

"I am quite sure the future of BA is bright as the trend can be seen from the win in Lunas. The PM has said that the people voted for BA out of anger. Yes, I agree it was due to anger but I am sure that it was not just that.

"Even if they were angry with BN, they would not have voted BA if they did not believe in us. They would have abstained from voting," said Fadzil.