DAP leader Lim Kit Siang said today that his 'secular front' proposal was not intended to attack its former opposition partners in the Barisan Alternatif coalition.

Lim, who first suggested the idea at a speech in London two weeks ago, has since come under intense criticism by DAP's former partners - PAS, Keadilan and PRM - for seeking to break apart the remaining BA coalition.

"The secular front that I had mentioned in my London speech is never meant to be anti any political party, not even PAS or Umno. It is for the cause of defending the 44-year-old fundamental constitutional principle and nation-building cornerstone of a secular Malaysia," he said in a press statement.

DAP has called on Keadilan and PRM to ditch Muslim-based PAS and form a new 'secular' opposition coalition.

Yesterday, PAS president Fadzil Noor accused his party's former partner of trying to sabotage the existing opposition coalition.

"DAP left the opposition front on its own but now has the cheek to ask for the opposition to disband itself in order to accommodate DAP," Fadzil was quoted as saying by The Star .

Fadzil added that DAP should go ahead if it wants to join the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition instead of attacking the opposition front.

Not optimistic

Lim, however, said that he fully understood why his 'secular front' proposal has been given the cold shoulder by his party's former allies.

"As I said last week, I was not optimistic about the responses to my London speech on a secular front to defend a democratic, secular and multi-religious Malaysia, especially as DAP was not able to get the support of Keadilan and PRM in BA to defend and uphold a secular Malaysia," he said.

But political differences should not degenerate into personal attacks or character assassination, such as accusing him of becoming an agent of the ruling BN coalition, he added.

A number of DAP leaders have expressed unease over the timing of the proposal, especially coming so soon after the party's withdrawal from BA.

DAP opted out of BA two months ago when discussions with PAS failed to resolve their differences over the Muslim-based party's Islamic state policy.

A high-ranking source in DAP told malaysiakini that the proposal was made without considering the feelings of the BA component parties, and warned that it could be seen as an "unfriendly move".