DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang today challenged Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to explain whether the endorsement of the Barisan Nasional supreme council for Umno's version of an Islamic state was for a "secular Islamic state".

Lim said MCA in the past few days had claimed in the Chinese media that the difference between Umno and PAS is that the former stands for a "secular Islamic state".

He said Mahathir's declaration on the issue and the swift, blind and unthinking support given by leaders of other BN component parties threatened a fundamental basis of the Malaysian nation-building process.

"Why did the MCA, Gerakan, Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) and other BN component parties agree so easily with Umno without seeking the full consent from their respective party central committees and congresses?" he asked.

"They had been calling on the people in the past two weeks to reject an Islamic state - as recently as in the Sarawak state elections less than a week ago," he added.

The veteran politician was responding to Mahathir's statement yesterday that all BN component parties have endorsed Umno's definition of Malaysia as an 'Islamic state'.

PAS challenge

The component parties, according to Mahathir, had also agreed there was no need to change the country's constitution as its plural and multi-religious population had lived under it all this while without any problems.

The premier said this at the coalition's supreme council meeting at Wisma Putra yesterday where all its14 partners were present.

Prior to this, Mahathir had declared Malaysia an 'Islamic state' when he opened the Gerakan 30th Annual National Delegates Conference in Kuala Lumpur on Sept 29.

The Umno president also said that BN was only worried about an Islamic country a la -PAS because of the failure of the Islamic party to explain its version of the state.

Recently PAS president and parliamentary opposition leader Fadzil Noor had challenged the government to proclaim in Parliament that the country was an Islamic government.

Mahathir, however, replied that the government did not want to debate with PAS because the party had been disagreeable about the matter from the beginning.

Declaration of the PM

Lim also questioned how and when Malaysia transformed from a secular to an 'Islamic state'.

"Is it on the declaration of the prime minister or on the expressed wishes of the people?" Lim queried.

Lim said the first Prime Minister, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj had declared that Malaysia was not an Islamic state when he said in Parliament: "I would like to make it clear that Malaysia is not an Islamic state as it is generally understood; we merely provide that Islam shall be the official religion of the State".

Lim added that in 1992, the then Chief Justice of Malaya Tun Mohamed Suffian Hashim had interpreted the scope of Islam in the constitution as being primarily for ceremonial purposes.

These events include the permission for prayers to be offered in the Islamic way on official public occasions such as the installation of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Merdeka Day, the opposition leader said.