Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad may have hinted at an early election though no date has yet been fixed. A mini poster campaign by all sides has however emerged in Penang.

Posters about the size of a magazine with the slogan "NO to 929" first appeared on lamp posts, walls, billboards and trees lining the streets of Penang early this month.

Dubbed the "People's Awareness Campaign", the yellow-coloured posters were put up by DAP all over Penang to remind the people to reject Mahathir's declaration on Sept 29 last year that Malaysia is already an Islamic state.

Component parties of Barisan Nasional including Chinese-based parties MCA and Gerakan have endorsed the unilateral declaration though they had slammed Islamic-based party PAS for its intention to set up an Islamic state should it come to power.

In the posters, DAP explained that the "929" declaration of an Islamic state posed the greatest threat to the nation's history but very few Malaysians are aware that they are in the midst of one of the "greatest nation-building crisis with far-reaching political, legal, socio-economic and citizenship implications".

"It is unthinkable that the overwhelming majority of Malaysians will make a conscious choice to abandon a democratic, secular and multi-religious Malaysia in favour of an Islamic state.

"But they might succumb to the campaign of fear for a Taliban-styled Islamic state and sleepwalk into making such a choice, not fully or even aware of the far-reaching implications," the party admonished on its posters.

DAP also warned that giving the Barisan Nasional strong support in the next general election would be regarded as a "national endorsement for them to embark Malaysia on a road of an Islamic state as it would be irreversible".

Since leaving the Barisan Alternatif coalition in September last year, DAP has gone on an aggressive campaign to reiterate its stand against the premier's declaration and any party's intention to form an Islamic state in Malaysia.

Rude shock

However, if the opposition party thought that BN was going to take the 'insults' lying down, it was in for a rude shock.

A few days after the posters were put up, new ones of DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang gleefully shaking hands with Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat with the slogan "YES to 4302" appeared alongside the original posters all over Penang.

The number 4302 supposedly refers to the day a fund-raising dinner was held in Kota Bharu for member of Parliament Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah), organised by PAS, the very party that DAP is at odds with over the Islamic state issue.

Fong, 28, was suspended without allowance for six months last December after allegedly castigating the House Speaker Tun Zahir Mohamad Ismail in rejecting her motion to debate the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) scandal.

Lim and a host of other DAP dignitaries attended the dinner held at the Kelantan Chinese Chamber of Commerce building where the two parties talked about "cooperation" on common issues like justice, freedom and good governance. That night, the opposition rivals contended that BN was the common enemy and the dinner was sealed with a goodwill handshake of the two leaders.

Last week, DAP retaliated by displaying pictures of Mahathir shaking hands with PAS president Fadzil Noor beside the two earlier posters. The new slogan "YES to 8502" refers to the May 8 event when the two contentious parties — PAS and Umno — joined hands publicly in support of the Palestinian cause. Some thought the event was a prelude to a unity talk proposed by Umno last year.

Mixed reactions

The mounting poster war attracted mixed reactions from people in Penang, with some finding it rather humorous.

Sally Chong, 59, a businesswoman from Butterworth, thought the posters with numbers were pasted by agents to encourage betting.

Her business partner, Linda Lim, 45, thought "929" were slurs meant to mock MCA's top two, Dr Ling Liong Sik and Lim Ah Lek, as Umno's "running dogs" as nine in the Hokkien dialect sounds like dog — to connote the fact that both leaders backed down when Mahathir intervened to solve their long-running crisis.

Celine Thanam, 45, a former supervisor in a manufacturing company, was unaware of the war of numbers. When she noticed them later, she thought it was a codename for a politician who was being 'slandered' by his opponents.

However, after being enlightened about the messages behind those numbers, the three women said they were wary about the idea of an Islamic state. All of them were concerned that their religious rights and freedom of movement, entertainment, even dressing, would be curtailed.

Teacher Ahmad Tajuddin, 30, said he understood that DAP meant it as a political strategy. but hoped it was only directed to the non-Muslims. "It is impossible for a Muslim to publicly say no to an Islamic state. It is saying no to law and order laid down in the Quran. It is like saying no to Islam itself."