Malaysia's Islamic opposition party said Sunday it has no plans to immediately shut down nightclubs and gambling dens, or ban alcohol in a northern state where it won elections.
The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, also pledged to respect ethnic minority rights and said it would not unilaterally
implement strict Islamic rules.
PAS retained its stronghold in northeast Kelantan state and
wrested control of mainly Muslim Kedah state from Prime Minister
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's coalition in Saturday's general elections.
An Islamic cleric, Azizan Abdul Razak, 63, was named to lead
the government in Kedah, said PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.
He said Azizan will not impose Islamic laws of the kind in
force in Kelantan, including segregation of sexes in public places and a ban on gambling, alcohol, cinemas and nightclubs.
Such places flourish in Langkawi, a popular tourist resort
island in Kedah state.
He said PAS would consult its two political allies -- the
Chinese-based Democratic Action Party or DAP and the multiracial
People's Justice Party known by its Malay acronym PKR -- before
implementing such rules. He said PAS will also seek feedback from
the local community.
"We will first discuss with our non-Muslim friends. We all
have different faiths. Whatever activities that are allowed by
other religions, even though they are banned in Islam, we cannot
disturb. That is their right," he told reporters.
"We will ensure freedom of religion, freedom of worship and
the right to carry out their daily affairs," he said.
PAS, the DAP and PKR captured three other states -- Perak,
Penang and Selangor -- which have large ethnic Chinese and Indian
populations.
Penang, which is the country's only Chinese-majority state,
will be governed by the DAP. Hadi said the three parties were
still deciding who would lead Perak and Selangor.
PAS, which has ruled Kelantan since 1990, had alienated ethnic
minorities and liberal-thinking Muslims with its call for a
hardline theocratic state in the past. An earlier cooperation
with the DAP collapsed over its Islamic agenda. But PAS dropped
its call for a theocratic state in these elections and toned down
its Islamic rhetoric.
Malay Muslims make up about 60 percent of Malaysia's 27
million people, while Chinese and Indians jointly account for
about a third of the population.
The opposition gains are seen as a protest vote against
Abdullah's government amid complaints over the rising cost of
living, growing crime and religious and racial tensions.
Hadi attributed the opposition's strong gains -- which eroded
the ruling coalition's two-thirds parliamentary majority for the
first time in four decades -- to support from Chinese and Indians
in urban areas.
"We praise Allah for our victory," Hadi said. "It shows that
Malaysians want a development policy that is fair and does not
lead to abuses. We will support development that is beneficial
for the people but we will reject corruption, cronyism and
nepotism." (****)
