I agree completely with SK Wong , who has the common sense and intelligence to remind us all that 'Eastern values' are not the Islamic oppression that readers like Fathima Idris would like to impose on us.

In every free society, we all occasionally encounter some things we find distasteful. But that is the price of freedom. In a theocracy, or in any society in which a clique of self-righteous clerics decide what propriety is, such a society itself becomes distasteful, intolerable, even hateful (like Saudi Arabia).

As an American with a Malaysian-Chinese wife, I was shocked when, in KL, a uniformed officer scolded us severely because I had my arm around my wife in public (we were sitting on a public bench). What is the problem here?

More to the point, what is the problem with Malaysia? Did you know that public morals are much freer in the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain, even in remote hick towns such as Ras Al Khaimah, let alone Dubai?

I've been in the UAE a total of eight years and I can assure you that non-Muslims do not get harassed and persecuted for holding hands or kissing in public. Fathima and others with similarly sanctimonious biases should be ashamed that many of the Gulf Arab countries look progressive and free compared to Malaysia.

If I were to market Dubai tourism to Malaysian Chinese and Indians (and Dubai does offer palm-landscaped beaches, by the way) my slogan would be this: 'Escape oppression. Dubai, truly tolerant'.