My wife and most of my friends were appalled at me for voting a BN candidate. I asked them if I am the only one with his finger on the switch.

Given that PAS and PKR have together won more seats than the DAP, voting for the opposition coalition has brought us closer to the Wahabbi strain of the Sharia which includes the ‘hudud’.

In line with PAS, the PKR manifesto had a point that promised to ‘selaraskan’ or standardise the Sharia in all states, apparently ‘fractured’ under the BN. Non-Muslims in particular, do not realise that this one point could be a bone in their throat.

Now having won Kedah, Perak and Selangor, PAS and PKR would be obliged to bring these states in line with Kelantan. Malaysians tend to forget that during the Mahathir era, PAS had campaigned to include the ‘hudud’ to complete the code in Kelantan.

The DAP in Penang is in a curious position though, having been given a leg-up by its coalition partners to wrest the state.

During the election campaign, PAS and PKR derided the current ‘fractured’ situation but Malaysians in their frenzy failed to note that Umno may have deliberately kept the Sharia fractured to serve as a bulwark against the Arabised theological cloak enveloping the country.

What PAS and PKR are actually saying is the extent to which the Sharia lacks is the extent to which Malaysia is un-Islamic and thus the situation needs to be rectified.

In Islamic states, the Wahabbi form of Sharia is the standard bearer and this strain is surreptitiously and patiently enveloping Malaysia vide a pincer movement comprising two generations of well-disguised Wahabbi educated Muslims firmly entrenched in our midst and a Wahabbi inspired media who Malaysians unwittingly view as a breath of fresh ‘Western’ air.

Malaysians do not realise that the world sees it as a gem within the Organisation of Islamic Conference and not quite an ‘Islamic state’ and it is perhaps the only country amongst the 57 with more non-Muslim places of worship despite having a Muslim majority.

Malaysians do not realise that Umno, albeit not openly, shuns the Wahabbi strain while promoting a gentler form already in place the past 50 years, designed for a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic fabric but understandably derided by the Islamists as an antithesis to ‘real’ Islam.

Point is, would Malaysians accept the Sharia per se and if not, would the DAP be in a position to exert influence on its coalition partners to renege on their Sharia promise?

Not unlike Iran 30 years ago, by voting the opposition, Malaysians are unwittingly trading a corrupt but reformable BN for ‘real’ Islam.