Terengganu Menteri Besar Abdul Hadi Awang's press secretary Zahari Mohamed today clarified that the former's speech yesterday made no reference to closing down the country's only casino in Genting Highlands, Pahang should PAS win the state in the next general elections.

Zahari told malaysiakini that Hadi had only said that PAS would abolish whatever that was detrimental to the rakyat .

"Abdul Hadi did not specify casinos when making his speech. However, he said that whatever that was detrimental to the people must be abolished and this is in line with universal values, regardless of race and religion," he said.

Yesterday, Abdul Hadi was reported to have said in Kedah that PAS would close down the casino in Genting Highlands if the party captures Pahang in the next general elections.

The MCA and DAP Youth wings have criticised Hadi for the statement, saying it reflected PAS' extremist stand.

Genting Resort Berhad media relations officer Ng Kok Wai when contacted said that he was instructed not to make any comments regarding the issue of PAS shutting down the gambling venue.

PAS now rules the east coast states of Kelantan and Terengganu. BN has also lost its two-thirds majority in the Kedah state assembly following the recent Lunas by-election.

Meetings on issues

Meanwhile, an opposition leader said today Barisan Alternatif (BA) would be conducting a series of meetings to iron out conflicting issues between coalition partners, particularly PAS' stand on an Islamic state.

DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock told malaysiakini the meetings, starting this Saturday between PAS, DAP, Keadilan and PRM, will deal with issues such as the Islamic state and the sensitivities of non-Muslims.

"Issues which we have put aside during the last general elections will be addressed in detail this time," he said when contacted.

Kerk said the question of an Islamic state was a rational fear of non-Muslims that it would be exploited by the MCA in the next general election.

"This question (of an Islamic state) will not go away. It will be exploited again, except this time the MCA will exploit the rational fears and legitimate concerns of the non-Muslims," he said.

Kerk said the issue was left aside during the last general elections as DAP felt it would be sufficient to convince the voters not to be tricked by the MCA propaganda.

"However, time has proven that we had made an error (not addressing the issue)," he said.

This error, Kerk added had resulted in "DAP's electoral debacle" and the loss of the golden opportunity for BA to break the political hegemony of the Barisan Nasional.

He added that BA had to learn from the lessons of the last general elections and effectively resolve the question of the Islamic state.

DAP has been losing support since the 1995 general elections, where it lost heavily in northern state of Penang. However, after the 1999 general elections, DAP representatives in Parliament increased from nine to 10.

DAP has in the past openly criticised PAS for its policies on women, alcohol and gambling.