Barisan Alternatif leaders today said it was up to DAP to decide its future in the coalition when its central executive committee meets tomorrow.

According to PAS president Fadzil Noor, the Islamic party has expressed its views on Islamic state to DAP when both parties met to thrash out their differences in two previous meetings.

"We had made it clear. There's nothing else to say," Fadzil said, adding that both parties should however learn to trust each other.

The opposition leader added that PAS has told DAP that it will abide by their common manifesto which was issued before the 1999 general elections.

"The issue of Islamic state did not arise in BA," he said.

Fadzil, however, said that PAS could not give the assurance that "a vote for BA is not a vote for Islamic state" as demanded by DAP.

"DAP is seeing things from the non-Muslim perspective; we can't issue such a statement because we are getting support from the Muslims," Fadzil explained.

Final decision

DAP's central executive committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow to decide if the party should quit, stay or form another partnership with the opposition Barisan Alternatif coalition, whose other members are Keadilan and PRM.

The party's 13th congress two weeks ago empowered the newly-elected 26-member committee to resolve immediately its differences with PAS on the Islamic state issue.

The committee has also been given the mandate to make the final decision without having to refer to the congress or delegates.

Sources within the party told malaysiakini that a majority of the committee members are in favour of quitting the opposition front.

Meanwhile, PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali said it is DAP's right to do whatever it wants.

"I do not wish to comment further," he said when asked to give his view about the meeting tomorrow.

No decision

However, Keadilan's deputy-president Dr Chandra Muzaffar doubted that DAP would pull out from the opposition coalition.

"I don't expect the DAP to make a decision (any which way on the pullout)," he said.

Chandra added that DAP would have to think seriously about the future of the opposition coalition.

"The party has played a big role in forging this coalition," he said.