Khoo Kay Peng's letter (DAP should differentiate between Islamic 'state' and Islamic 'country') is inadequate.

Finding a legal defence for any idea is easy, the question is whether there is an ethical defence for it.

Let us look at the chronology of events. The PM decides - in order to usurp the PAS religious power base - that he needs to make the nation more Islamic. So, he declares that Malaysia is already an Islamic state.

Gerakan is a party in the Barisan Nasional coalition and opposed to PAS and in support of Umno. It is in a bind since its political ideology and political survival are at odds. In a bid to ensure that there is no issue to begin with, it reverts to the classic you can call it tomato ( t-m-t) or tomato (t-m-t).

How about another piece of trivia, that the Malay language makes no distinction between 'state' and 'nation'?

You believe in things because there are reasons to believe in it. You do not believe in something first, because it is the party line, and then along with the rest of the leadership look for reasons to defend the line. Certified auditors would call your reasoning 'creative accounting'.

I am no DAP man, and I think the party as a whole, whether pro-Kit Siang or otherwise, is on the wane. Gerakan should defend the Islamic state lie by the prime minister on rationale and not on the constant barracking of what others stand for.

For once, be un-BN, try to reason to the thinking man and not preach to the converted.

It is ambiguity within BN that promotes such letters as that by Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud, who is PAS Dewan Muslimat information chief ('RM60,000 to educate Muslim women on dress code a pittance').

The point is not whether the money allocated is appropriate or not, but rather whether the taxpayer has to pay for a programme to tell people what to wear because of any religious orientation. Neither Umno nor PAS have the right to use public coffersto promote silly campaigns like that.

It is the lack of distinction between official religion and state religion that is dragging us into a perpetual quagmire that the first Malayan government left as our legacy, and which has been exploited by the Mahathir administration.