Many people see the general elections as an opportune time to check executive dominance. They believe that it is important to support every opposition party in order to increase the opposition presence in parliament.

Supporting everyone who stands against the Barisan Nasional (BN) is however a little problematic on account of PAS.

PAS did extremely well in the last general elections. They retained Kelantan and captured Terengganu. They obtained 15 percent of the popular vote and captured 27 parliamentary seats to emerge as the third largest party in parliament.

Some people don't think that PAS gaining additional ground is anything to get overly worried about. They maintain that PAS can never come to power at the federal level. However, the point is that if we allow PAS to gain ground then we send them a message that their vision for the future is acceptable. It isn't!

PAS seeks to amend the federal constitution, now or in the future. They would make the Syariah the supreme law of the land. They do not seem to understand that restructuring the social contract in a unilateralist manner is unfair, wrong and unacceptable to many people.

When PAS establishes its Syariah-based state, one wonders who is going to be entrusted to codify the Syariah? Is this a process that is going to involve all Malaysians, all Muslims or only a select group of Muslims who PAS decides are 'wise' and 'learned' enough to decide? Is it wise to entrust the entire remaking of the country to a small group of people that is not representative of Malaysia's multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious complexity? The manner in which PAS has chosen to codify the Syariah in Kelantan and Terengganu gives us little hope.

PAS claims that Parliament will continue to exist. But what role will it have? Once the Syariah becomes the supreme law of the land, will Parliament have the power to amend the 'reworked constitution'? Will it have the power to pass legislation? Or will all decisions of Parliament have to be vetted by a Council of Ulama (B la Iran)?

Will a small group of ulama end up running the country in the name of Islam? The manner in which thousands of reformist candidates were excluded from the recent Iranian elections does not inspire much confidence.

Today, we as Malaysians enjoy equal citizenship, some democracy and a measure of civil liberties. There are a lot of things that need changing - but the sectarian, unilateralist and exclusive PAS approach isn't the way forward.

If PAS' ultimate goals are not acceptable then we the rakyat have the responsibility to convey our concerns. And this is done via the ballot box.

PAS must be prepared to be more open, inclusive and accommodating. It also needs to develop a political model that is genuinely democratic. Let us keep in mind the complex situation that we find ourselves in.

Yes, we need greater checks and balances on the government but we must not send PAS the wrong message.