Elya Lim Abdullah spouts a lot of high rhetoric in her letter , referring to the 'the follies of ideological secularism of past decades' but without a shred of legitimate evidence.

Strip away the rhetoric and it is clear what the writer's interests are - in the political power wielded by those who claim superiority in religious matters. And all this talk about apostasy, the inseparability of religion and politics etc, all work to this goal.

While seeming to call for a superior form of democracy, she uses phrases such as 'requires its believers to submit', 'specialisation', 'While Malaysians are free to practice any religion [..] the Constitution is explicit about the place of Islam' and 'complete separation of religion from the state'.

These phrases speak of exclusivity and exclusion, especially of those who do not subscribe to the religion or a particular interpretation of the religion. What kind of democracy is that? I think the intentions are crystal clear, and illustrated by that second phrase, 'While Malaysians are free to practice any religion [...] the Constitution is explicit about the place of Islam'.

That says it all. This long and tedious fight over religion, the state and apostasy is nothing more than a fight for power and supremacy. People like the writer are lobbying not in the interest of our individual or collective spiritualism, but for the front row seat in politics and power.

Secularism scares them because it gives everyone, regardless of his position on religion, the right to have a say, and it takes away the exclusivity of those who feel they are religiously and morally superior.

And 'exclusivity' and 'exclusion' are after all what these people are after. They can spout rhetoric and quote their pet Quranic verses all they want but their motives are so transparent it is laughable.

What is scary, though, is that some take this debate seriously.