KL's opposition faces split over Islamic extremism

KL's opposition faces split over Islamic extremism

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysia's opposition alliance faces
a possible split this weekend as an ethnic-Chinese party debates
pulling out over fears of Islamic extremism, an official said
Friday.

The two-year-old Alternative Front (BA) alliance has been at
the crossroads for months over a declaration by its dominant
member, the Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), that it would establish
an Islamic state once in power.

Malaysia's biggest ethnic Chinese-based opposition party will
debate on the weekend whether to leave an opposition front
because of a member's plan for an Islamic state if it wins power,
a party official said on Friday.

"We cannot be a party to something that is against our
ideological basis, struggle or principles," vice-chairman of the
Democratic Action Party (DAP), Lim Guan Eng, told Reuters.

The DAP is expected to decide at its two-day annual assembly
beginning on Saturday on whether to stay in the Barisan
Alternatif (BA) alliance of four opposition parties.

The opposition alliance was formed in 1999 after Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad's popular ex-deputy Anwar Ibrahim was
sacked and thrown into jail on sex and corruption charges he
denied.

The alliance is officially led by Parti Keadilan Nasional, an
ethnic Malay-based party run by Anwar's wife.

But its real pillar is the Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), once
popular only among conservative Malays but now accepted by many
other Muslim Malays who make up nearly two-thirds of the
country's 22 million population.

Many members of the DAP, which strongly opposes PAS's Islamic
agenda, have urged the party to withdraw from the alliance, said
secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock.

He said three out of 11 resolutions tabled by party branches
at the DAP's annual congress starting Saturday were on the
Islamic state issue, with two openly urging DAP to break away
from PAS.

"The Islamic state issue is going to dominate the whole
congress. I don't know how it will end but whatever decision is
made by the congress is binding on the party," Kerk told AFP.

"We are all unanimous that this issue must be resolved. If
unresolved, the Alternative Front is untenable."

PAS leaders have upset the DAP recently with comments
reiterating that their top priority is to set up an Islamic state
if they replace Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's National Front
in power.

Leaders from both parties have held several rounds of
discussions on the issue since June but Kerk said talks were
deadlocked as they failed to reach any compromise.

"We have not shut our door but it will all depend on the
outcome of our annual congress," he added.

Keadilan and Malaysian People's Party (PRM), another member of
the alliance, have also expressed reservations over PAS's plans
for an Islamic state but have not come out as strongly as the DAP
for fear of offending ethnic Malays, who are overwhelmingly
Muslim.

The infighting within the opposition alliance is good news for
Mahathir's ruling National Front alliance, which lost ground to
the Alternative Front in 1999 general elections.

The main beneficiary of the switch in allegiance was PAS while
the DAP lost support amid fears among the Chinese about its
alliance with the Malay-Muslim PAS.

Malays make up more than half of Malaysia's 23 million people,
with Chinese accounting for 25 percent and Indians 7 percent.