Does Malaysia have two constitutions for its citizens? One for the Malays and another for the

non-Malays?

The Syariah Court seems to think so in their relentless pursuit to punish the four Muslim apostates , Daud Mamat, 62, Kamariah Ali, 51, her husband Mohamad Ya, 57 (now deceased) and Mohd Yacob Ismail, 62.

Our federal constitution under article 11 guarantees and affords its citizens the right to choose and practice the religion of his or her choice. But the Syariah Court doesn't seem to think that this right of choice extends to Malay Muslims.

Otherwise they would not have pursued this matter unrelentingly and to the point of incarcerating the four Muslims apostates in prison.

What is even more sad is that by persecuting these four apostates, they are doing a great disservice to the great and beautiful religion of Islam that a non-believer like me can acknowledge without qualms.

How is it the ulama and the great religious scholars are not aware - but I, a non-Muslim, am - of the provision in the Quran (Surah 2.256) that states very clearly: 'Let there be no compulsion in religion.'

To mete out punishment to the four apostates is to contradict the teachings of Islam because the truth is that a Muslim is free to renounce his religion as Islam does not compel anyone to follow it if he or she does not want to.

The federal court in its judgment did not address this issue but would have no choice but to agree to the postulation that the four apostates are entitled to profess a religion of their choice in accordance with the provision in our constitution.

The Syariah Court should be made to realise that even in Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and other all Middle Eastern countries, there are Muslims who are allowed to take Christianity as their religion. Even Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, allows its citizens to choose their own religion.

It's about time the Malays stand up to the ulama and religious scholars here and make known to them their rights and the apparent contradiction of their postulation that Muslims do not have the right of religious choice.

This is not to encourage them to abandon their religion but to provide them with the knowledge that such a choice is indeed available to them.