Like many of your readers, I am aghast and horrified that an Indonesian maid has been so badly abused . I am equally horrified that some of our fellow citizens can also abuse and rape young children, some of them to the extent that death has occurred.

But what is really alarming to me, and I'm sure to many in this country as well as foreigners, is the desire for vengeance that is being openly aired , by of all people, those in the government. The roadside hawker behaving like that I can understand; but ministers?

One minister said the photograph of the accused and her husband should be splashed in the newspapers. Is she saying that the accused should be tried by the media? Another said the accused should be given the same treatment! Is she suggesting that the accused should be abused in prison?

The former de facto minister of law boldly said the accused is already guilty - no need to prove it. The basic law axiom that you are innocent until proved guilty does not hold here - he boldly declared to the world.

I hope he has not lost his intellect after leaving his portfolio. Perhaps this is the 'New Culture' emanating from his new ministry that he is trying to instill in Malaysia and Malaysians.

It is time to call a halt, before these calls for vengeance get out of hand. Let us not deteriorate to the level of the American behaviour at the Abu Ghraib prison.

We are a cultured people and governed by the rule of law, no matter how provoked we are. Everyone gets a fair deal irrespective of colour, creed or religion. Our image has taken a beating because of the utterances of our ministers.

It is time for our prime minister to step in and rein in his ministers before everything becomes too messy.