DAP today demanded that PAS central committee member Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki apologise for "racist and extremist" remarks made in leaked chat messages.

DAP's national publicity secretary Tony Pua ( right ) said while it was the prerogative of the Islamic party to analyse if it should or should not remain in the opposition bloc, it was the second part of Zuhdi’s "analysis" that has irked many Malaysians.

"Whether Zuhdi wants to remain in Pakatan or not is not disputed. That is his right as a PAS member (to make that consideration)," Pua said in a statement.

Pua was referring to Zuhdi's remarks about "swatting away" complaints by DAP and non-Muslims if PAS teams up with Umno.

In his messages, which were part of a conversation in a PAS central committee's WhatsApp mobile messaging chat group, also dismissed the 'Allah' issue and appeared to endorse church raids.

Zuhdi has offered nothing more than a simple explanation that he was "representing other people's opinions" when he wrote the second part of the message.

"His analysis clearly shows that he has racist and extremist thoughts where the rights of Malaysians who are non-Malay and non-Muslim can be trampled on," Pua said.

'Action against narrow-minded leaders'

In his sternly worded press statement, Pua, who also heads the Selangor's DAP, asked Zuhdi to leave Pakatan.

"If his racist and extremist ways are not regretted, then we do not wish to see Dr Mohd Zuhdi remain in Pakatan, even if he has no intention to exit.

"At the same time,we hope that PAS takes action against other narrow-minded leaders like him so that the good name of PAS and its slogan 'PAS for all' is not marred," the MP for Petaling Jaya Utara said.

Pua noted that even in Zuhdi's follow-up Facebook comments acknowledging the exposed WhatsApp messages, Zuhdi did not make amends for his bigoted remarks.

"Therefore, his name is still not cleared of very negative perceptions from many quarters," Pua added.

In the leaked message , Zuhdi, a lecturer, had a discussion with other PAS central commitee leaders. They outlined a strategy of even co-operating with rival Umno to keep Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim ( left ) in power.

This is to counter a recentbid of PKR to replace Khalid with the party's president, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

The part that Pua found offensive was when the discussion talked about a plan to restore the dominance of the Malays in the country's political landscape so that they could negate "DAP and non-Muslims".

This appeared to directly contradict Pakatan's fight for a multi-racial, multi-religious Malaysia.

Zuhdi is also the operations director of the PAS research centre (PPP).