Dr Syed Alwi Ahmad makes two very strong claims which require justification:

1) Malaysia is undeniably a Muslim country

2) It is basic Islamic teaching that the leadership of a Muslim country must be in Muslim hands

The first claim is slippery, if not downright controversial. The relevance of the second claim to Malaysia depends o­n the success of the first claim, since it pre-supposes the truth of the first claim.

Let us look at the first claim. What is a 'Muslim country' exactly? Our constitution explicitly states that Islam is the official religion of Malaysia. This is to distinguish from countries that adopt Islam as the state religion.

The difference, in effect, is broadly this: countries adopting Islam as their state religion claim to base their legal, political and social structures o­n Islamic scriptures. The case of Malaysia is very different. The consensus of 1957, upon which the constitution and independence of Malaysia is based, was this: Islam is the official religion of Malaysia.

As far as I am aware, this bears two interrelated consequences. First, the Malaysian constitution recognises the validity of religious pluralism; and second, Islam is appealed to primarily for ceremonial and symbolic purposes, in as far as the state is concerned. The yellow crescent o­n our flag is o­ne such example.

Given that Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, and not the state religion, it is not inconsistent that our legal foundation is primarily secular, taking its origin from the British common law system.

Whatever you may think of this state-of-affairs personally, this is historically a result of the compromise that made Malaysia possible in the first place. Islamic law manifests itself in terms of the syariah court, which offers Muslim families the opportunity to settle family disputes in a Muslim court.

Since Islam is the official religion - and not the state religion - of Malaysia, then in principle I don't see the inconsistency in having a non-Muslim leader lead Malaysia. In other words, since the first claim that Syed Alwi makes is insufficiently clear, it is equally unclear how his second claim can be said to apply to Malaysia.

I am actually very curious about the second point Syed Alwi makes. Is this point to be found in the Quran itself, or from the Hadith? Also, if 'Islam' means simply, 'submission to God', then actually a theist (of whatever faith) will surely do? My point here is that even the second point is controversial.

On an additional anecdotal point, I remember Dr Mahathir himself o­nce saying something to the following effect: there are as many senses of the term 'Muslim country' as there are opinions about it.

In other words, the term 'Muslim country' is far from settled. o­ne doesn't have to look far to see that there is no universal agreement o­n this matter. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, both purporting to adopt Islam as their state religions, disagree o­n what a 'Muslim state' consists of.

For instance, Saudi Arabia, led by a patriarchal monarch, would never allow a woman to be its head of state. Pakistan, o­n the other hand, has seen a very influential head of state in Benazir Bhutto.

Let us spare Malaysia such confusion. We have enough problems as it stands. What is most important for me personally is that the Malaysian head of state be:

a) genuinely committed to his/her people;

b) morally upright; and

c) intelligent enough to understand the complexities of the dynamic young state that is Malaysia.