While I could share the anger and frustration Dr Ng has on the school carnage at Beslan in which many innocent lives became victims, I don't share his opinion in blaming the Muslim world entirely for the problem.

Blaming terrorist acts entirely on Muslims is certainly unfair. The Western world is equally to be blamed for this problem. Thus, the solution to this problem is not held only in one hand. Rather, it has to be worked out together, not unilaterally as being practiced now.

There has not been a single Muslim government that has ever expressed support for terrorist acts. Even the toppled Taliban government of Afghanistan condemned the Sept 11 bombings. And it is on record that the Taliban was willing to surrender Osama Laden should the US government show substantial proof of his involvement in the Sept 11 bombings.

Bear in mind that the possibility of the US accusations against Osama (for bombing the World Trade Centre) could be as bogus as their accusations against Saddam (for having Weapons of Mass Destruction). This not totally out of the question.

The US has repeatedly vetoed condemnation of terrorist acts committed by the Israelis against the Palestinians. This makes the US government look worse than the Taliban in the eyes of many Muslims.

In fact, I believe this is the source of all the conflicts between the Muslim world and the West, especially the US. As much as Ng feels anger and frustration for the inaction of the Muslim world in addressing the terror problem, Muslims would feel the same for lack of action the world has taken to address the atrocities in Palestine.

I may be wrong, but I believe Ng wouldn't give a second thought to inflicting damage onto a Muslim terrorist network at his first opportunity. Thus, guess what is in the mind of many angry Muslim youths around the world?

The Western world has also turned blind eye to the atrocities committed by the Russians in Chechnya. If you put the pictures side by side, the brutal killings of innocents in Chechnya and the Beslan tragedy, you would be able to assess the problem more objectively.

You have to look at both pictures. The 'terrorists' do actually come from both ends. Putting the blame only on one side only would undermine any effort to bring this problem to a halt. Just imagine what is in the minds of thousands of 'black widows' in Chechnya whose innocent husbands and family members were brutally killed by the Russians.

How long can they stand being forced to live in fear and hunger? Shall we kill them all in order to prevent them from boarding the next plane with bomb strapped to their waists?