I refer to the reaction by us Malaysians on the blasphemy on the Prophet in a Danish newspaper. ( Cartoon row: Cool it , please by Ramdzan). We get angry five months after the cartoons appear in a Danish newspaper.

What are we doing about the blasphemy of the teachings of the Prophet within our shores which is happening every day and growing rapidly. I am referring to the number of video centres and karaoke joints appearing in the smaller towns and older suburbs of the established urban centres.

Petaling Jaya Old Town is one example. Between Section1, 3 and 4, there is a mosque, the UITM campus, the Petaling Syariah Court, and a dominantly Muslim population in Section 3, also known as Kawasan Melayu. And what we have here growing in numbers are vice joints and gambling centres in the guise of karaokes and video game centres. More and more young Malay youths are frequenting these joints. School children are being seen too lately.

Once in a while the authorities come, and they are closed for a day or two and then they commence business again. These little measures are making them grow in numbers. In Menara Mutiara Majestic, more retail outlets are being rented out to such video centre. Existing retail outlets are being bought out and rented to this video centres. Stationery shops and restaurants are

being replaced by these video outlets from the ground floor to the first floor.

What are we doing about it? Why are we not having a march against it after our Friday prayers from the mosque nearby. What is MPPJ doing about it? What are our representatives doing about? In fact, they are so daring that some of the patrons who own cars used during the OIC meeting are openly parking the cars outside the karaoke centre.

This scene is being repeated in most of the quiet suburban areas of the major urban centres and in smaller towns where there is lax enforcement. Before we shout our anger at the Danish newspapers what are we doing about the sin within us. Are we not blemishing the Prophet in this way by ignoring the sin within us in our neighbourhood?