The DAP has met with International Movement for Just World president Dr Chandra Muzaffar at a closed-door dialogue yesterday to find out more about Islam.

The partys publicity secretary Ronnie Liu said the dialogue with the Muslim scholar and social reformer also discussed the Islamic state concept as propagated by PAS on one end and Barisan Nasional on the opposing end.

We wanted a deeper understanding of Islam through the eyes of a Muslim scholar and a man such as Dr Chandra, who has travelled extensively, is knowledgeable about the different Muslim countries, Liu told malaysiakini.

We found out that no one could really come up with a definition of an Islamic state. We cannot say whose definition is more correct as we dont have a model Islamic state, he added.

More than 50 DAP members, including national chairperson Lim Kit Siang and other central executive committee members, attended the three-hour meeting held at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

Liu said the dialogue debated the impact of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Another topic was Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamads declaration that Malaysia was already an Islamic state.

Liu said the dialogue raised many important issues such as how certain definitions, such as the word secular, could mean different things to different people.

The word secular, he said, could be taken by certain people to mean anti-Islam or anti-religion.

But when we say secular we mean the separation of religion from the state. It does not mean that we are against religion. We believe that no one religion should be supreme, he said.

Yet who are we to decide whose definition is correct? We find that the terminologies are really problematic and we have to work through these problems, he added.

Term misunderstood

Liu said if the government wanted to introduce new laws based on certain universal values, people would not mind which religion they came from.

But the problem arises when words like hudud are used. People misunderstood it even before they could even begin to understand what it is all about, he said.

Asked if the two parties had come to a resolution at the dialogue, Liu said, Yes, we came to the conclusion that people who do not want an Islamic state should vote for the DAP as we are very clear about this matter.

DAP has been on a crusade against the setting-up of an Islamic state. PAS leaders have publicly announced they would set up one if they came to power.

The clash of the two parties over the issue resulted in DAP pulling out from the Barisan Aternatif opposition front in September last year.