With reference to the letter by Mohamad Nasrin, Personal faith not an issue before syariah courts , I'm afraid he has missed the whole point of the issue altogether and continues to insist that a non-Muslim like Subshini must submit herself to the Syariah Court as decided by the Appeals Court on a 2:1 decision.

All those who oppose the decision have clearly argued that this violates the Federal Constitution by allowing the Syariah Court to have jurisdiction over non-Muslims. They have pointed out that rightly, the two Muslim judges in the Appeals Court should share the same views as the non- Muslim judge Gopal Sri Ram, but in the interest of Muslim solidarity, they chose to ignore their conscience.

Nasrin seems to take the naive and patronising view that so long as the Syariah Court - which would hear Subshini's appeal - undertakes to be fair, non-Muslims should not worry. It is akin to saying that non-Muslims must accept the fait accompli that syariah law will eventually supersede civil law in Malaysia and the only concession that would be made to them is an undertaking 'to be fair'.

This is not what non-Muslims, who in exercising their constitutional rights to be outside the jurisdiction of the syariah, want. But Nasrin appears to be oblivious to all that.

The rapid push towards Islamisation in the country triggered by the political struggle between Umno and PAS has brought untold heartache to the families of M Moorthy, Anthony Rayappan and others over the infamous body-snatching cases already well-known to all and sundry.

It is high time Nasrin and other Muslims who share his view understand the legitimate fears of non-Muslims and stop adopting such a naive and patronising attitude as to insist that they must subject themselves to syariah law with the only concession being an undertaking by the syariah to be fair as in the Nonya Tahir case.