PAS resident Fadzil Noor must either have his head in the sand or a very thick eardrum. Or perhaps he just has a thick skin. His comments in malaysiakini yesterday shows he has not listened to a thing his critics within the opposition have said, or perhaps he chooses not to.

He has not answered with any satisfaction, queries about why Malaysia cannot have a secular state that follows some of his Islamic ideals. Why the need to call it "Islamic" is the question.

Furthermore, Fadzil says (and this is not the first time), "Our Barisan Alternatif partners should not worry unnecessarily on how we are going to run the country." Even before winning the election, PAS is already positioning themselves as the leader of the BA and assuming that their concept will be the cornerstone of the alternative government.

I don't understand how the BA can sit around and tolerate this. In the meantime, PAS is usurping the general aspirations for meritocracy and a just, civil society into its own Islamic agenda. I see no difference.

We all aim for the same goals; calling it Islamic or secular is just a question of positioning and branding. And it is obvious who is out there to make the most of this for his own party's benefit.

Such is the BA. We already see a pattern forming— will BA be really different from Barisan Nasional, where the so-called coalition is run by Umno by default?