The third ‘incident’ that had caused some anxiety among some
Malaysians was the announcement in 2002, during Mahathir’s administration,
that “Malaysia has fulfilled its requirements of an Islamic State”.
The announcement was interpreted as “Malaysia is an Islamic state” and
was met with some anxiety and discomfort by non-Muslim Malaysians.
They responded by arguing that the announcement was unconstitutional,
that though the Constitution named Islam as the official religion, that did
not make Malaysia an Islamic state. The issue was settled with a declaration
that the dispute was essentially semantic and did not change the
legal rights of citizens. What prompted the move was that the government
was anxious to win back Malay votes which UMNO or the United
Malays National Organization, a senior member of the government, had
lost to Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party or PAS in 1999 general elections.
After the 1999 general elections, PAS came out strong in its goal to
establish an Islamic State and to enforce syariah law. PAS argued that
Islamic law would be the ultimate answer to eliminate social and political
evils and to restore a true Islamic social and political order for
Malaysia. The campaign had an impact on the National Front or Barisan
Nasional which mounted its own Islamic-based counter campaign,
which included the declaration that Malaysia was an Islamic state.