Dawud's letter Malaysiakini 'a poison' to country is itself poisonous. I appreciate his effort. However, I'll like to suggest and challenge Dawud to try a few things himself.

First, on malaysiakini presenting lies and distortions of reality. I challenge Dawud to present one news channel which is impeccably true and unbiased. To get a good idea of what's going on, one needs to rely on more than just one news channel. Malaysiakini is one of them.

I pity Dawud for having been tortured by malaysiakini 's lies and distortions for there are other news channels which he can look into. Given his self-proclaimed intellect, he will be able to filter the news.

Frankly, its amazing that medieval mindsets still exist regarding conversations about religion. Why can't we talk about religion and even question it? Any religion, not just Islam. Confrontation only gives everyone a better opportunity to learn and understand.

Confrontation has to be allowed but it must not be violent. I think malaysiakini qualifies. What we need is more channels to talk about religion and culture. We also need more patience to deal with airheads. But we should never shut them up. Kudos to malaysiakini for publishing the letter.

Dawud is being a practical realist. I respect that. We can have distinctions between race and religion and we need to move in a positive direction. What we need not do is to sit back and say that things cannot be done.

On Dawud's very primitive suggestion of running away from reality to settle down in Siberia, I can only smile and be glad that some people choose to stay and strive for the better. Others preach what they themselves usually revert to - chickening out of things and moving on whenever Utopia does not exist.

Kudos again to malaysiakini for publishing Dawud's letter. It helps us know that people like Dawud do exist, and we live with them.