This Malay divide is all but irreconciliable. The BN would have to become more Islamic, and more repressive, to show the world how democratic it is. If hope is lost in the electoral system - and make no mistake, it is all but lost in an important segment of Malay society - other non-electoral and illegal methods would be serious options in this political battle for political power. More serious is the void fuelled by different perceptions of the Islamic State, the battle for which will now be fought with the non-Malays ignored. The DAP's hatred for the Islamic State is well known, but it would not get the time of day if it tries to debate that in parliament. The main difference in the UMNO and PAS version of an Islamic State is the speed with which it would be a reality, not on the substance of what it is: UMNO promises to install PAS's theocratic state in stages while PAS wants it implemented immediately. In other words, the BN coalition which UMNO leads accept the totality of an Islamic State but differ only on how it would be applied. It is not much of a choice. All this election decided is that the Malaysian future is an Islamic one, perhaps as early as 2020, brought in not by discussion and negotiations with the multiracial Malaysia but as a political tit for tat for the Malay ground.

That had one unintended effect. UMNO to meet the growing threat of PAS, after 1999, had to be seen to be more Islamic than its rival for the Malay heartland. With the multiracial parties sidelined, UMNO had to best PAS on its turf. Malaysia is declared an Islamic State, the judicial system gives equal status to civil and syariah law, and now, the prime minister announces, in the election campaign, that Muslim pupils must study the Quran from the first year of school. This, he insists, would not affect the non-Muslim pupils. As usual, this is a gut reaction not thought out properly. It does not matter. PAS would accept it wholeheartedly. The BN and UMNO is pushed further into changing the character of the Malaysian state in a debate, like in Iran in the 1970s, where the other secular and non-Islamic views were battened down. KeADILan, even with its raison d'etre the release of its eminence grise, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, promised that hope. But UMNO wanted nothing more than to see it destroyed, and is now caught in the islamic dilemma.

But all told, the EC is nervous. For all its vaunted independence, it must ensure a solid BN victory. If it does not, the EC chairman would be forced out in time. Failure to break the law so those who must win does not is a serious crime in this blessed democracy of ours. So the BN works closely with the EC so its victory is in no doubt. But it is not so straightword. The BN bigwigs are worried. The de facto law minister, Dato' Seri Rais Yatim, had to put his oar in: he warned that if the Opposition not to raise sensitive issues, it would have to pay the price. The presumption here is the BN could with impunity. Why do I notice an unbelievable nervousness in the BN and EC? It is the Opposition which dictates debate in this election. The issue is the Islamic State, the first time it is since the former prime minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamed, declared Malaysia to be an Islamic State, without debate or parliamentary approval. PAS wants it debate. The BN, especially its dominant UMNO, cannot. When PAS challenged the BN chief and Malaysian prime minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, about his Islamic credentials, UMNO froze in fright, deeming it an unfair personal question. it is not. In an Islamic State, how its leader behaves is subject to public scrutiny and debate. But the BN has decided it would not address it head on. So Pak Lah would not be drawn into it. But that only puts him on the defensive.

Let us look at what he said when he broke his Ramadhan fast with the Seremban UMNO Youth on Thursday, 20 November, 2003. Since the New Straits Times is a newspaper controlled by UMNO interests, one should accept that what it reports of the meeting is as accurate as one can get of what happened. He said PAS must first prove its sincerity by reaching a consensus with the other opposition parties on its Islamic State Document before it wants to debate it with a BN party. He presumes it would not. It would or it would not. But does that amount to insincerity? Did UMNO discuss Malaysia's declaration of an Islamic State with its BN partners? Is it not a fact that MCA, for one, was caught flatfooted, and rushed for cover when the former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamed, declared it?

After the Anwar Ibrahim affair, UMNO found that the Malay had moved to the sidelines, prepared to vote for whoever wins. As its electoral chances declined, it declared, unilaterally and without discussing it with its coalition partners or parliamentary debate, Malaysia an Islamic State. It did not explain what and how it was one, but it was a cynical attempt to bring the debate into the Malay heartland, which is where the battle for the Malay vote is fought. The non-Malay parties in BN quietly acquiesced, atlhough none could explain what this meant in practice. BN was taking the electoral battle on PAS's terms. It was, in one sense, now a battle for the Muslim mind. UMNO and PAS differ on how an Islamic State should conduct itself. Both sides have not explained what they mean by what they say. Until PAS revealed, on 12 November 2003, what it meant by an Islamic State. The 53-page Islamic State Document or "Dokumen Negara Islam" placed on the public record of what it meant. It promised to put into law what BN would only talk of. The primacy of Muslims and Islam is guaranteed, a non-Muslim could not be Prime Minister or hold other high office, but it promises to give due consideration to non-Malays. There is nothing in the document UMNO could quarrel with - only that it makes it more difficult now for UMNO to fight for the Malay vote on an Islamic platform.

UMNO AND PAS ARE ON ALL fours when it comes to Islamic criminal law, commonly but inaccurately known as 'hudud'. But they disagree on how. UMNO opposes the PAS plan, which it says is un-Islamic, and has its own version. PAS retaliates in kind. At the heart of this debate, conducted in a monosyllabic discourse in which there is no common ground, is that Malaysia's political debate has over the years shifted dramatically from a multiracial and multireligious society to a decidedly Islamic one. When UMNO and PAS do not even talk to each other over an Islamic State, and their discourses are for narrow political advantage, how could there be one between UMNO and PAS on the one hand and the non-Malay political parties and groups on the other? One frightening development in Malaysia today is that the non-Malay has no say on the matter. Any non-Malay questioning of the UMNO or PAS position on the Islamic State would be seen as questioning the role of Islam in national life. Even the National Front (BN) would not raise it once UMNO declared Malaysia to be an Islamic State. It is fair to assume the BN parties were not consulted, and its leaders would not dare to demand an explanation from its leader, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed.

Every one talks at cross purposes. The administration of Islamic Law follows the strict Saudi Wahhabi practice, not the more liberal interpretations found elsewhere. Indeed, one major problem Islam faces in the world is the encroachment of Wahabbi practice in the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence outside the Middle East. The role of women, who were liberated from their bondage at the time of the Prophet Muhammad, have been drastically reduced to the present state as Islamic politicians in pushing for an Islamic State rely on ancient tribal practices to reduce women to an insignificant secondary role. In Malaysia, this is aggravated by the explosion of women power in all sectors of society, Muslim and non-Muslim, and Muslim men, long used to dominate, find themselves at a loss. So they resort to Islam to establish their dominance over their women. The decision to allow SMS divorces is one, the refusal to act against those who marry another without his first wife's consent another.

And if this second casino is to attract tourists, which is the latest spin, the government should have come out clean and said so. And place guards at the entrance to casinos to shut out Muslims from entering the establishment. Should not then there be one in Langkawi? Instead, it is caught with its pants down. The more it attempts to justify the casino, the more problems surface. I have a shrewd suspicion why this casino is allowed. It is to collect funds for the coming elections. And the super-crony uncertain if he has a future after Dr Mahathir retires in October appears to have insisted the setting up of the casino before the elections. And brought the BN to its knees. It does not look if the cabinet or indeed anyone in it or the Pahang state government knew of it until after the deed was done. It does not excuse them for straying from the Islamic State the Prime Miniter has decreed Malaysia is. The government religious authorities and the two Hamids, one the Islamic adviser to the Prime Minister, the other the minister in charge of religion, have kept quiet. So the Islamic studies graduate who is our next Prime Minister. Why?

To be called Tropicale Gaming, the second casino is a minnow compared to Genting Highlands, ten minutes away as the crow flies, but it puts into question the BN government's claim it leads an Islamic State. It is in the complex of the money-losing pseudo-French Colmer Tropicale resort, set in about 2,000 acres of state given him for the proverbial song. Its general manager told Dow Jones newswire in February it would open in May, would have 250 electornic, or computerised, machines featuring such games as baccarat and roullette.

The official reticience is understandable. The BN unilaterally decided Malaysia is an Islamic State, which it would not then allow Parliament to discuss it. UMNO wanted it. What UMNO wants, UMNO gets; the other BN partners would not dare oppose it. When the cabinet is bothered enough to want to be involved in minor municipal matters, it would stretch the imagination to suggest it had no say in approving it. The UMNO supreme council, which approves all important issues before the government does, would certainly have. And gambling, in the Malaysian context, brings into an Islamic focus the BN government would rather not be have to deal with. The government's Islamic advisers kept quiet, as did Dato' Seri Abdul Hamid Zainal Abidin. Why? Given the sensitivities involved, why is Tan Sri Vincent Tan allowed to open his casino this month, when it would certainly be an election issue in Pahang, where PAS is strong enough to deny the BN its two-thirds majority in the state assembly, and elsewhere in the country.

In the 30-odd years between Genting and Colmer Tropicale, the country shifted from Malay dominance to Islamic dominance. The world view has changed. No Malay politician can survive in Malaysia if he does not wear his commitment to an Islamic State prominently on his shirt sleeves. It is this that puts added pressure on UMNO and the BN. UMNO has not thought through its Islamic credentials, nor allow Parliament to debate it for fear of what could come out of it, especially with PAS forcing the pressure. It has declared Malaysia is an Islamic State, and that, in its view, is all that is necessary. It had hoped that by labelling Malaysia an Islamic State, it would soften the PAS pressure. But its scatter-brained approach could not last. Within UMNO, there is a demand to be told how it differs from PAS's worldview, and why. But UMNO leaders cannot explain or debate it, except in generalities, which is neither here nor there. The issue of a second casino licence in Pahang, which can only be issued by the Federal ministry of finance, opens yet another can of worms which UMNO must wriggle out of to survive - in Pahang and in Malaysia at large.

UMNO HAS THIS INEXPLICABLE DESIRE TO SELF destruct. It is an old problem. It has gone worse in recent months as it renews itself, against great odds and without knowing how. It took a fatal decision in the past year to challenge PAS, not on the truth of its agenda and policies, but on Islamic dominance in a multi-racial society. Until now, UMNO had represented the Malay cultural constituency in which Islam plays a large part, against a PAS which insists Islam must supercede Malay cultural practices. A debate which continues to divide Malay political thinking and thought. What has changed if the realigning of political orientations. UMNO has adopted the PAS agenda. It is in the differences that each campaigns for the Malay soul. The difficulty with the UMNO position is that this drift towards an Islamic State was made off the cuff by the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, in headmasterly righteousness, and pretty soon a lamb is led to slaughter in the tiger's den.

But the biggest problem is this march towards a religious state, as both UMNO and PAS, in Malaysia, espouse. There is unfortunately no sound example of an ideal Islamic State, after the Prophet Muhammad's in the 7th century, in the 1500 years since. Talking to a PAS religious leader recently, I asked him for a workable example of an Islamic State since the Prophe Muhammad's, and he could not think of one. He says PAS works towards one. He did not think the Ottoman or the Iranian or the Saudi Arabian experience are the examples to follow, and that the aim is to build one in Malaysia which is unique. In other words, he did not know. Neither does UMNO. There is no clear articulation of principles of what constitues one, except to insist it is Divine will, and therefore therefore be challenged or questioned. Those who do are heretics, and if Muslim, pay the supreme penalty.

The National Front (NB) government cannot do anything about it. Its world crashes around it. It embarks on an unconstitutional push for an Islamic State, taking issue with the theocratic Parti Islam Malaysia or PAS over what form of an Islamic State Malaysia should have. It is taken as read within the Malay community that non-Malay views do not count, and its only role is to take it or leave. Parliament did not debate it, the BN did not discuss it or if it did, the non-Malay partners so concerned about their own positions in the power structure to bother about taking the Islamic bull by the horns.

Dr Mahathir has now declared Malaysia an Islamic State, and played into the hands of those who want Malaysia ruled by a Muslim ummah, in which the non-Malays are reduced to non-entities. He can moan as he likes about the declining and reduced multiracialism in an increasingly Islamic Malaysia, but it is crocodile tears he sheds. He allowed the rot to seep in, allowing the Islamic zealots in Malaysian life -- every ministry has its own Islamic vanguard which vets and prevents non-Muslims from promotions and even the perks of the jobs they hold. One now retired senior non-Malay civil servant told me how he, as deputy head of the department, was never allowed to act for his superior; the third in line, a Malay, always was. His promotion itself was so resented by this group that the head of department nearly got transferred out himself. Dr Mahathir is aware of all this, but he is powerless, in the circumstances by which he now governs, to act.

Unfortunately, this time around, if he does not match his 1999 majority of 25,000 in 1999 he is out. Not even the BN would accept him if his majority is only a quarter of that. So he accounces his decision, off-the-cuff, in response to a question from his audience in Kedah. He has yet to inform the UMNO and National Front (BN) supreme councils of it. He is not in control of his destiny, is buffetted by fears of anarchy within UMNO after he leaves amidst a Malay political resurgency which rejects UMNO in it, his flawed vision of a Malaysian Islamic State that can only benefit PAS. and an opposition that sees, however faintly, the light at the end of a 45-year-long cultural and political tunnel.

This raises another important issue: Dr Mahathir's claim that Malaysia is an Islamic State. Did the MCA and Gerakan accept it? At an MCA forum on this last October, a gulf appeared Dr Ling's perception of Dr Malaysia's Islamic State and the MCA central executive committee, and it began with the translation of "Negara Islam", translated in English as "Islamic country". There is a world of difference between "Negara Islam", which connotes only a theocratic state to the Muslim, and an Islamic country, which means to the non-Malay a state with more Islams in it. It is incumbent on MCA, MCA and other non-Malay parties in the BN to state their stand on this unequivocally. For it now become clear that much of what is the BN's view of anything is either UMNO's, or the Prime Minister's, exclusively, and introduced without consulting..

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