While congratulations are no doubt due "doctor and part-time model" Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor on his selection from thousands of applicants for a ride on a Russian rocket - and he has had to train hard to prepare himself for the trip - I find it a bit far-fetched to hail him as Malaysia's first astronaut.

Sure, he'll be the first Malaysian to venture into space. But more as a passenger than as a pilot or scientist, as his trip is a free bonus for Malaysia's billion-dollar purchase of 18 Sukhoi 30-MKM fighter jets, not part of any national programme of cosmic exploration.

So far from it, in fact, that at first it looked like an exercise in comic exploration, involving such activities as top-spinning and teh tarik preparation.

But ever since most down-to-earth Malaysians laughed such "experiments" to scorn, I notice his duties have been spun in a more serious direction, like subjecting cancer cells to zero gravity.

I guess there's some element of danger or derring-do in Sheikh Muszaphar's voyage. But after almost 50 years of orbital flights, moon-landings and space station visits by thousands of men and women, the vast majority of whom have returned to terra firma in one piece, these days it's probably safer to travel by rocket than by Malaysian long-distance express bus.

So Muszaphar's extra-terrestrial exploits will hardly launch him into the same heroic league as his reported hero Yuri Gargarin, the first man to survive being shot into space aboard Vostok 1 back in 1961, or be seen by the world as launching Malaysia to the forefront of space-exploration.

But if the Barisan Nasional (BN) government's efforts to pull off a public relations coup by producing Malaysia's first astronaut are proving pretty much of an astronought, thank goodness that the Department for Islamic Development (Jakim) has boosted the event's international impact with a booklet advising Muslim astronauts on how to avoid being astronaughty.

As AFP reported, Jakim, after conferring with the Malaysian National Space Agency, whatever that is, has prepared a 20-page publication specifying how a Muslim astronaut should eat, pray, wash and even, perish the thought, be buried in space.

If water is not available for ritual washing before prayer, for example, the booklet reportedly states that the astronaut can "symbolically sweep holy dust onto the face and hands even if there is no dust in the space station".

It also specifies: "During the prayer ritual, if you can't stand up straight, you can hunch. If you can't stand, you can sit. If you can't sit, you should lie down."

There are no specific instructions for burial of a Muslim in space, apparently, perhaps on the grounds that the need is hardly likely to arise.

Other booklets?

Meanwhile lots of Malaysians, especially thoses who happen to be ordinary, everyday, down-to-earth, devout and virtuous Muslims, must be hoping that Jakim is contemplating a series of booklets for other high flyers besides astronauts.

Because there appear to be more Muslims than ever in positions of power and authority in Malaysia today whose behaviour appears both totally off the planet and astronomically un-Islamic.

Jakim could well consider producing a follow-up booklet for the benefit of judges, for example, reminding every one of them - from Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim on - that Islam, like all other major faiths as far as I'm aware, requires judicial fairness and impartiality of those on the Bench in preference to political partisanship, power-broking and outright corruption.

There also appears to be a crying need for a Jakim booklet informing Muslim educational administrators like Universiti Pertanian Malaysia chancellor of vice - oops, vice-chancellor - Nik Mustapha R Abdullah that their role is to foster the intellectual development of the students in their charge, not to police their political views or affiliations, or to bully, harass and defame them with false and pernicious allegations that they have pornography on their laptops.

Astronaut Muszaphar was quoted by AFP as saying that Islam is a "lenient" religion and compatible with space travel. And so it is, if the Jakim astrobooklet is to be believed. But surely Islam is not so lenient as to be compatible with evils committed by its adherents in space or anywhere else, especially under a guise of spurious virtue achieved through hypocritical "religious" statements and empty performance of public rituals.

So from what I can see there's endless scope for booklets reminding Muslim cabinet ministers of their sworn duty to govern for the good of the country instead of for the greed of their families and cronies, and Muslim civil servants of their obligation to serve the people with honesty and integrity instead of helping themselves through bribes, kickbacks, corrupt deals and crooked cost-accounting.

And while we're on the subject, what about a leaflet informing Malaysia's "information" czars and their minions in the media that their sacred trust is to disseminate the truth, not to confuse, confound and blind the ummah by throwing dust, holy or otherwise, in the eyes of their audience?

Unfortunately, however, the notion that a space flight is somehow leading to an improvement in Malaysian public life reads like nothing but science fiction.

The government is clearly set on a course of using Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor as a star performer in its ceaseless campaign of self-glorification. This could well backfire, however, as the rocket is, as we're all aware, the symbol of the DAP.

So rather than winning more votes for BN, public admiration for the nation's first astronaut could well mislead less sophisticated members of the electorate out of the BN orbit and into that of the opposition.

In which case it'll be not only one small step for a Malaysian, but also one giant leap for Malaysiakind.