Malaysia is a Muslim country at best and will not be an Islamic state as long as its constitution remains secular, said former Lord President Salleh Abas today.

"Malaysia can be described as a Muslim country because the majority of our citizens are Muslims but it cannot be described as an Islamic state," said Salleh when contacted by malaysiakini .

This was because the highest law in the country is the Federal Constitution and Syariah law (Islamic law) is only a branch within the constitution, he added.

"Syariah cannot run into conflict with the laws passed by Parliament or the constitution. Only Islamic laws governing personal and family matters are allowed by the constitution," said Salleh who is now PAS state assemblyman for Jerteh in Terengganu.

Salleh added the present situation is "not in accord with Quranic interpretations".

"Muslims must accept Islam as a whole accept a path and reject other paths. There is no half-way house between secularism and Islam," he said.

Currently, Muslims are subjected to Syariah on matters relating to family, inheritance and sexual misconduct such as incest and promiscuity. Criminal acts committed by Muslims and non-Muslims are prosecuted under the civil law.

Salleh was responding to Minister at the Prime Minister's Department Dr Rais Yatim's remark on Sunday that Article 3 of the Federal Constitution was adequate to conclude that Malaysia has all the attributes of an Islamic state.

Article 3 states that Islam is the religion of the country but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the country.

Surprise announcement

PAS had previously been labelled as "fanatical and extreme" for advocating an Islamic state but late last month, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad took everyone by surprise when he declared that Malaysia was already an Islamic state even if it had not implemented hudud .

Hudud is one of the many branches of the entire Syariah which deals specifically with criminal punishment.

Following the declaration, PAS president Fadzil Noor challenged Mahathir, who is also the Umno president, to debate the issue in Parliament and officially proclaim that Malaysia is an Islamic state.

Parliament sitting has resumed yesterday after a two-month break, but no debates on the subject have been conducted thus far.

Salleh said his stand on Article 3 was clearly stated in a 1988 judgment by the five-member panel Supreme Court (now Federal Court) which he chaired.

In the judgment, Salleh ruled that the term 'Islam' in Article 3 referred only to acts relating to "rituals and ceremonies".

He stressed today that Malaysia can only be converted into an Islamic state when the word 'Islam' in Article 3 is amended so that Syariah could be applied fully to at least all Muslims.

He added Syariah need not be extended to non-Muslims against their wishes.

"Indeed even the secular law which does not contradict with Syariah can continue to apply to Muslims also," he said.

Judiciary crisis

The 72-year-old Salleh was the former Lord President from 1984 to 1988 before he was sacked from his post, prompting a judiciary crisis which witnessed the suspension of five other Supreme Court judges.

Meanwhile, former National Human Rights Society (Hakam) president T Ramdas said for any country to be a theocratic state, "the source of law would have to based on religious edicts".

However, he said, Malaysian laws are based on "common laws" as well as statutory laws passed by a "secular legislature".

Ramdas who has decades of experience in constitutional matters noted that even the first prime minister, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, made a declaration in 1958 that Malaysia was a secular state.

Tunku reportedly said then, "I would like to make it clear that this country is not an Islamic state as it is generally understood; we merely provide that Islam shall be the official religion of the state."

Meanwhile, DAP national chairman Lim Kit Siang in a statement called on the Barisan Nasional supreme council to convene an emergency meeting to retract its endorsement that Malaysia is an Islamic state in line with the constitutional principles.