DAP will not be returning to its traditional "non-Malay - Chinese dominated" political niche following its withdrawal from the Barisan Alternatif in September, said its chairperson Lim Kit Siang today.

On the contrary, he said the party will be looking to capitalise on creating a new Malaysian political movement for all races and religions, just as it aspired under the BA.

"Although the natural thinking is that we should go back to our traditional niche, we do not want all that we achieved in the past two to three years to go down the drain," Lim said in a statement.

"(In the past few years) the DAP has reached out and it has been an exiting period for us. It has been an opportunity for Malaysians to see that the DAP is not a Chinese party in its concerns but is genuinely Malaysian."

"Our pullout from the BA should not change that perception. Everyone must realise that the propaganda that we are anti-Malay and anti-Islam are baseless," he added.

He also added that DAP was willing to cooperate with anybody, including the Barisan Nasional, on common issues.

DAP, along with PAS, Keadilan and PRM formed the BA before the 1999 general elections and had strived for a change in government on a common manifesto.

However in September DAP had pulled out of the coalition following months of dispute with PAS on the latter's intention to convert Malaysia into an Islamic country should the party come to power.

Indian judge

Meanwhile on another matter, Lim called upon the government to appoint an ethnic Indian judge to fill a four-year vacancy at the Federal Court.

He said that there was an unwritten convention that the three tiers of the judiciary should reflect the ethnic composition of the country, resulting in a silent ethnic quota for judicial appointments.

Lim stressed if the government was serious about Vision 2020 and a united Malaysia, it should then move beyond such an unwritten code so that judicial appointments are made strictly on merit.

"However we are not moving forward and in many cases, we are in retrogression. For the past four years, even the unwritten convention of an ethnic quota had not been strictly observed."

Lim said that the government should urgently fill up this vacant post and initiate moves to make future judicial appointments based on merits.