I would like to thank K Shanmuga for making clear the legal constitutional history of Islam in Malaysia.

While I think the facts that he provided do not overwhelming disprove that Islam cannot be made the official religion in this country, the fact that at least it was not preordained that Islam is the official religion of Malaysia was certainly clarified.

We in Malaysia, who have had no real press and information freedom for decades are indebted to people like Shanmuga who are willing to stand up and maintain truth in the face of overwhelming forces of government and zealot propaganda.

Although I was born just after independence and grew up among the political and business elite, I find myself unable to clarify the real facts in some of these hot debates, such as the real status of Islam in Malaysia and the so-called bumiputera special rights.

The debates I see on websites, newspapers and coffee shops are inconsistent with my childhood memories.

I clearly remember that most educated people in the 1960s, considered Malaysia to be a secular country with no legal provision to treat the bumiputera specially.

People who promote Malaysia as an Islamic country and those zealots for bumiputera rights, inevitably don't like to disclose historical facts, while those who try to defend their rights and freedom find it hard to gain access to the facts to support their arguments.

Apathetic people of today do not really care for history or the real facts. They do not care because they think - and are probably right - that in Malaysia it's power that matters and not truth.

It may very well be that Shanmuga is an oppositionist, with his own political agenda. However, this possibility does not significantly diminish the value of the facts he presents.

The information that he provided may be partial to his view and political beliefs, but it is still the truth and we, in a modern democracy, do not adequately exercise our responsibility when it comes to collecting the truth for our own consumption and interest.

We live in a society that sways too much to MTV political propaganda that hides the truth.