The Christian Federation of Malaysia wishes to express its concern at the following remarks of Najib Abdul Razak in response to questions from reporters: "Islam is the official religion and Malaysia is an Islamic state, an Islamic state that respects the rights of the non-Muslims and we protect them."

As he is the deputy prime minister of the country and for all Malaysians, he should not have made those remarks. The use of the term 'Islamic state' is unacceptable to Malaysians of other faiths, on three grounds.

Firstly, the term 'Islamic state' is not used in our Federal Constitution to describe the country. By citing Article 3(1) of our Federal Constitution to infer that Malaysia was meant to be an Islamic state runs contrary to the original intention of the Constitution. The Constitution does not provide for a theocratic state.

Secondly, it was never the intention of the social contract entered into at the independence of Malaysia that Malaysia would be an Islamic state. The Constitution was structured to guarantee the right of all religious communities to co-exist and relate with each other on an equal basis as citizens of one and a united country.

Thirdly, to-date, the non-Muslim coalition parties that make up the Barisan National government had never consented nor officially endorsed the use of the term 'Islamic state' to describe the country. The deputy prime minister's statement must therefore be viewed as lacking official endorsement by the government of the day.

We appeal to the deputy prime minister to retract his aforesaid remarks and to the government to refrain from the use of the term 'Islamic State' in the description of Malaysia and instead to vigorously advocate the description of Malaysia as a secular constitutional democracy.