I refer to the letter by Fathima Idris entitled Article 12: Nazri should establish mechanisms .

Fathima says, 'Article 11's petition to reaffirm the supremacy of the Federal Constitution is only a guise to call for the subordination of the syariah in this country. This is evident from their criticism of Article 12 (1) (A) as being an ill conceived amendment to the Constitution'.

I beg to differ from this statement. The very question of subordinating the syariah does not arise at all. At the time of independence (1957) and right up to the 1980s, the syariah, to my understanding, was only used for divorce/property disputes and only among the Muslims.

This was the agreement among our founding fathers who represented the various races. The syariah did not encroach on universal principles. Umno, however, has not kept its part of the bargain as far as the federal constitution is concerned and this has made non-Muslims unhappy.

All this while, non-Muslims have been converting to Islam and a small fraction vice-versa. Apostasy was not mentioned in those days. Why has it become such a big issue today?

The feelings of the non-Muslim should be also respected as they are still a majority in Penang, Sabah and Sarawak. Malaysia is also a signatory to the United Nations covenant on human rights, which makes it even more important not to overlook any agreement which forms the very basis of our unity.