I refer to the letter Muslim nations should reform now before... by Tan Sri Dato' Mohd Sheriff Kassim.

I find it quite ironic that the writer said that Malaysia can play a constructive role by advising Middle Eastern countries on (democratic) reforms.

In all honesty, the Middle East countries will not be loosening up anytime soon. In fact, they are struggling just to achieve a degree of secularism, let alone democratic reforms.

The monarch/clerics/elites there are clinging onto power using authoritarian and religious decrees. The mere excuse of being so-called defenders of Islam is sufficient to justify their existence and silence their critics.

Malaysia is one of the few democratic nations in the Muslim world, but a clear vision of the status quo is somewhat blurred because of the rise of Islamic politics and Islamisation.

The former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's proclamation of Malaysia as an 'Islamic nation' did just that - add one more to the Islamisation scoreboard.

The polticians here are willing to do anything to empower themselves and please the electorate, even to the extent of camouflaging the principles of the Federal Constitution.

Therefore, I find it difficult and a bit awkward to endorse the writer's wish of Malaysia's role in the Middle East. How can we teach other people to run their own houses when our own house is not in order?