I would like to make some comments on the letter Conformists and non-Muslim realities .

I, too, am equally bewildered by Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud's accusation that liberals and non-conformists are intolerant towards religion (Islam in particular). Nothing could be further from the truth.

I would like to ask Siti who is it that goes around arresting Muslims based on ideas of piety? Surely not the liberals and non-conformists? Whether consuming alcohol, being judged to be 'indecently' attired or even for not fasting during Ramadhan - these are all civil liberties violated in the name of religion.

So does tolerating Islam mean that we allow for the suppression of civil liberties of Muslims in an extra-constitutional manner? I'm sorry, but you have to count me out of that one. I am all for live and let live. To each his own.

But it seems that some people want to intrude into the personal space of others. This I totally reject because it would be the beginning of the end of civil liberties in Malaysia. How can Siti justify the intrusion of the state into the private and personal life of its citizens under the banner of religious dogma? Where will all this lead to? Taliban Malaysia? Islamic insurgency?

Siti must remember that Malaysia is not the Middle East. Perhaps she needs a reminder that Asean is packed full of non-Muslims. Malaysia's neighbours are beginning to get anxious of all the Islam-isation taking place.

Let us not wait till the Islamists begin to invoke the name of Islam in order to intrude into the affairs of Malaysia's non-Muslim neighbours. When that happens, I am sure that even Siti will become a liberal...