Bernard Dompok has the guts

And he has every right to have them. He again broke rank with his colleagues, especially the non-Umno ones, when during a speech at the launching of "The Merdeka Statement" by Centre for Public Policy Studies he said:

“I think my colleagues in the government will forgive me for saying that I will not agree that we are an Islamic state.”

This is the Minister who have not withdrawn the memorandum he and the other non-Muslim ministers submitted to the PM early last year to state their worry and concern over the erosion of non-Muslim rights, as well as to find a resolution to the worsening problem. His refusal contrasts with the others who quickly withdrew and distanced themselves from the memorandum when Pak Lah lost his temper. He is also the guy who recently resigned from chairing the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity citing conflict of interests between his role there and his role as a government minister. Whatever the case, him being East Malaysian is only airing the concerns and disgruntlement of East Malaysians at what they see as Umno's increasing encroachment and unilateral violation of the Malaysian Federation Agreement. A situation where they see themselves getting an increasingly short end of the stick. And Najib's recent pronouncement of Malaysia being an Islamic state serves only to entrench that feeling and belief.