I wonder if an overeager bureaucracy intent on upholding what they perceive to be the letter of the law is the cause of Egalitarian Malay 's travails.

Section 40 of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997 provides that "Any person who sells, gives away or delivers his child or a child under his care to any person who is not a Muslim shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding RM3,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both, and the court may make such order as it deems appropriate in respect of the child."

The bit about "delivering" one's child to a non-Muslim may have been interpreted to include even the act of leaving a child in the care of a non-Muslim during the day.

Who knows what civil servants are thinking, or if they are thinking at all?

Egalitarian Malay, and people like him, ought to start making their voices of moderation and reason heard in the corridors of power. Maybe then, we will not see this constant pandering to extremism by both sides of the political divide.