I refer to your report 'He was not a Muslim' - body released .

What are the authorities trying to do, further fanning religious sensitivities of the Malaysian Hindus? One wonders how on earth does a name like Kandasamy Sayapu become a Muslim name when there are a wide range of Indian names that don't actually sound Indian or Hindu. But that doesn't mean the National Registration Department can assume the person is Muslim and thus proceed to recognise him as one and give the rest of the government machinery the false information that the deceased person is a Muslim.

It looks as though in Malaysia, if one is not careful enough, one might be one day be buried as a Muslim. The NRD should firstly rid itself of simply imposing all kinds of new regulations without first finding out whether it has the constitutional right to do so. It should be promoting Malaysian-ness instead of repeatedly making the same mistakes at the expense of Indian Malaysians.

The NRD should be sensitive to the needs of Hindu Malaysians and request a certificate of conversion from a Syariah Court or from a converting body authorised by the Malaysian government to prove if a Hindu Malaysian has converted to the religion of Islam.

If all these papers are in order, then there is good grounds for asserting that the deceased died as a Muslim as there is proof of his conversion. A complete conversion should only be confirmed if a certificate of conversion is available and a name change shown on the MyKad. Until then the religious status of a person who dies alone or dies without practising any religion will be questionable. The NRD or the religious authorities should not take it upon themselves that these deceased are Muslims.

There is a sense of fear in everyone that they might be one day buried as a Muslim and thus many are openly professing their faiths and are being seen to practice their faiths so that it is known to the witnessing public that they were members of a certain faith or religion.

Malaysia is in a very rapidly globalising community where self-imposed borders and boundaries are now being brought down. We might be facing a very early general elections if the political indicators are anything to go by, so we have to decide on a government that can guarantee us religious freedom in accordance to the Federal Constitution, and not a government which has lost touch with what is happening on the ground.