Since his release from prison two months ago, former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has been sought to broke peace between opposition parties DAP and PAS over the Islamic state issue.

He said he had talked to PAS and DAP leaders separately and believed that there should be some 'give and take' on both sides before the two parties could work together to forge a strong opposition front.

Anwar told malaysiakini in a two-hour interview last week that while PAS should not insist on having its Islamic state policy incorporated into the opposition's agenda, DAP too should not insist that PAS abandon its Islamic policy.

"Don't expect PAS to withdraw their views on Islamic state. I don't expect them to do that and I am not advising them that they should withdraw their position. I think that would be too much because many Muslims see it as an article of faith," he said.

"If you read some of the speeches of PAS presidents when they were still in BN, they said, 'Kita akan bina negara Islam...' (we will form an Islamic state) and they would go on and on. The rhetoric on the issue was since then. But it was not attacked by the media. Even the DAP then did not hang it up as a major issue. But now, of course, it is different."

DAP left the opposition Barisan Alternatif front in 2001 after a acrimonious row over the issue with PAS.

PAS 'willing'

Anwar however dismissed the idea that PAS was unwilling to concede on the issue of Islamic state because his meetings with key party leaders such as president Abdul Hadi Awang and deputy mursyidul am (spiritual adviser) Dr Haron Din had been "very positive".

"I was very frank with them. I asked them, 'Do you seriously want me to assist and they said 'yes'.' I asked them, 'Do you believe and are you convinced that you need a cohesive opposition and they said 'yes'. So I told them, we would have to work on the parameter"

He stressed that DAP must do their part of 'give and take' by stopping its attack on PAS and its Islamic state agenda because it had given the perception that the party leaders, including (former chairperson) Lim Kit Siang and (chairperson) Karpal Singh, are anti-Islam.

"If I can persuade the DAP, I can say, 'Look, while this is going on, you reduce your rhetoric against (Islamic state) because this is seen by many Muslims as an anti-Islamic position.' Which is wrong, because Kit Siang said 'no' and Karpal said he (too) is not anti-Islam."

Anwar advised PAS to focus on the reform agenda drafted by the opposition's Barisan Alternatif in 1999 where non-contentious ingredients of the Islamic state concept had been incorporated such as human rights, the dignity of human beings, economic justice, prevention of corruption and maksiat (social ills).

"But the ingredients which are difficult like hudud laws or things like that, where consensus is needed, we put on hold and we can discuss. This is politics, you can't put the entire agenda into the framework."

He also believe that PAS and DAP can reach an amicable settlement if they trust each other, a process that may take quite some time considering the strong personalities involved.

"The problem is we have no trust (with each other), which we have to cultivate. It's not easy because there are strong characters - you have Hadi and Kit Siang and Karpal."

'Too rough' on Azizah

At the same time, Anwar said he supported DAP on the issue of the recent election for the Dewan Rakyat Speaker.

"I made a statement disagreeing on how the matter was handled by BA and even argued with Azizah (his wife and Parti Keadilan Rakyat president) openly yesterday at a meeting with about 70-80 reformists.

"Of course, Azizah's argument was that they (DAP) didn't even discussed with us (to nominate Tan Seng Giaw as candidate for House Speaker). But I said just because they don't discuss with you does not mean you should support a corrupt candidate (BN's Ramli Ngah Talib)!"

However, he regretted for being "too rough" on his wife.

"However, I was very impressed because it was the first time that she had stood her ground and argued with me in public, which she had never done in the last quarter of a decade I've been married to her. Times have changed!" he quipped.


Q&A: 'Quran is an article of faith, but not Islamic state'