As a lay person may I comment on Malik Imtiaz's article The compromise one cannot make in the New Sunday Times .

Sometime ago, an award was bestowed upon a teenage boy for gallantly rescuing a girl from drowning in a mining pool. A politician asked that the effort of the teenager be glossed over but the apathy of the throng - who stood by the pool witnessing two lives at risk - be highlighted instead.

The politician said it was not a rash act but a normal human impulse for the boy when he moved to protect the life of a fellow human being.

Reading the lowest common denominator, Malik is no different from the boy. Lina Joy's rights were perceived to be challenged and he stepped in on her behalf and the many who are silent and passive on this issue are no different from the throng by the pool.

The issue is not of Malik but of his death wishers, the ones who actually 'wear the human mask'. Under the cover of anonymity they malign not their human target but a religion, to the chagrin of the many good elements within.

Their primordial hatred is typical of the fanatic and hence, they must be isolated and disciplined before they manifest into a regrettable form in our midst.

Their actions are not only 'a symptom of the breakdown of civilised dialogue', but are due to a lack of meaningful articulation and explanation by the relevant people on such issues.

Amplification via the media parried with meaningful articulation by knowledgeable clerics will effectively paste the death wishers against the logic and common sense we subscribe to and hopefully, evoke a sense of shame in the promoters of this sort of fanaticism.