KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysia's biggest Chinese-based opposition party said on Tuesday it would keep pressing its main ally to drop plans for an Islamic state ahead of a vote on quitting the opposition front over the issue.
"We're deadlocked," Lim Kit Siang, national chairman of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), told Reuters after a meeting on Monday with the Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), which favours an Islamic state.
But Lim said expected further talks with PAS before the DAP's annual assembly on August 18 and 19, when a decision on whether to stay in the opposition front is expected to be taken.
"We're still at it," he said, referring to attempts to win a PAS change of heart.
PAS wants to create an Islamic state in mostly Muslim Malaysia if it comes to power in 2004 elections. It has banned gambling and other entertainments and curbed alcohol sales in the two Malay-dominated northern states it controls.
Islam is the official religion but the country, which has a rich ethnic mix, has opted to remain a secular state.
A majority of the population is Muslim Malay or other indigenous groups. Over a third consists of Chinese, many of whom are Buddhist, plus Indians and other non-Muslims.
PAS, once a minor threat to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's government, has grown in strength since the 1998 sacking and jailing of his popular ex-deputy Anwar Ibrahim.
Mahathir's ruling coalition, which includes the country's main Chinese-based party, retained control in 1999 elections despite losing ground to PAS, which teamed up with the DAP and two other parties to fight the polls.
DAP, which lost support among Chinese voters for allying with PAS, accuses its ally of reneging on a promise not to seek an Islam state if the opposition comes to power in 2004.
The other opposition allies are Parti Keadilan Nasional, which champions Anwar, and the Parti Rakyat Malaysia, which are in the midst of plans to merge.
Both are Malay-based parties and have not come out as strongly as DAP against PAS's desire for an Islamic state.
02:44 07-31-01
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