PAS has offered to be the moderator for the proposed debate between its nemesis Umno and former ally DAP on the history of Malaysia's independence.

Its vice-president Husam Musa made the offer today, saying that the party will be able to ensure the debate will be held in a "mature environment".

"Be it an open or closed debate, PAS is ready to act as a moderator. I urge Umno to consider taking up DAP's challenge. They should not practise political arrogance," he told malaysiakini.

"I don't think Umno has anything to fear in confronting DAP on this issue... especially when it is confident that their allegations against DAP are backed by strong historical facts."

DAP's international secretary Ronnie Liu challenged Umno deputy youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin to debate over Malaysia's independence history after the latter claimed that Liu had insulted the contributions of first premier Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Liu had allegedly made the insult in an article written in conjunction with Merdeka celebrations published on DAP's official website.

Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein demanded an apology from DAP, claiming that the opposition party had not only "belittled" Tunku's contribution but had also implied that the Communist Party of Malaya had contributed more to the process of independence.

Liu had defended his article claiming that his words were taken out of context.

There was further uproar over the issue after Umno Youth posted a satirical picture on its website contained the superimposed faces of opposition leaders on the cover of the book, Alias Chin Peng: My Side of History - the autobiography of the former Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) secretary-general, who now lives in exile in Thailand.

A reminder, not interference

Commenting on a related issue, Husam also clarified that his earlier criticism against MCA's wish to open Communist-inspired schools was not meant to interfere into the party's internal politics as claimed by MCA president Ong Ka Ting yesterday.

"This is just a reminder, not an interference. It matters not to me what kind of school they want to build. But the statement made by MCA has been unwise because the idea was based on the trip to China. It is as if the party has a hidden agenda," he said commenting on Ong's statement as reported in TheSun yesterday.

"So the party has a duty to explain to the people what kind of school it plans to establish. Is it really based on China's Communist Party's cadre training concept. They must be open on this."

He also questioned MCA's choice in the Communist party's cadre training concept considering that there are many other training concepts which can also be used to disseminate its ideology and provide political training

He believed that Umno should be more sensitive over the MCA's recent statement to establish a school similar to that of China's Communist Party after party leaders made an official visit to China.

"The government should actually be more sensitive towards the statement made by MCA than the one made by Ronnie Liu. This is because the communist ideologies had brought a lot of problems to the nation for so long. It was only in 1989 that a ceasefire agreement was signed."