I refer to the letter Najib creating own revisionist historical account . The fact is, just because someone pronounces a country an Islamic one, does not make it such. Let me quote two sayings - 'Actions speak louder than words" and 'The proof of the pudding is in the eating'.

Thus, we should take such comments about Malaysia being an Islamic state with a pinch of salt because nothing can be further than the truth. If Malaysia were truly an Islamic state, we would have scrapped the Internal Security Act decades ago. Punishing people in the form of detention without trial is totally against Islamic values and any country which detains people without trial longer than what is necessary for investigative purposes cannot dream of claiming 'Islamic state' status.

Secondly, what kind of Islamic state could possibly support the West's 'war on terror' instead of supporting the freedom fighters in Iraq wishing to liberate their country from the clutches of the imperialists who occupy them for the strategic control of their oil reserves?

So why are our politicians claiming that Malaysia is an 'Islamic state'? The trend among Muslims worldwide is to vote for Islamist parties. Muslims have the highest birth rate in Malaysia thus non-Muslim voters are getting less relevant. Islamist parties are winning elections whereever they are allowed to contest, for example Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon, AK in Turkey and the FIS in Algeria.

Such is the fear of Islamist parties to the extent that many democratic Muslim countries have banned them. For example, Indonesia, Pakistan and Egypt. Most predominantly Muslim countries do not even have any elections at all. Since Islamist parties are winning elections worldwide, Malaysian political parties have two options - either ban Islamic ideals or embrace them. As the saying goes, 'If you can't beat them, join them".

I also wish to comment on the writer's advice that 'To those in favour of such a motion (Islamic statehood), I urge you to examine how Islamic theocracies fare, the economic and social advances of countries such as Iran and Afghanistan under the Taliban are apt examples'.

Regurgitating false Western propaganda is not going to convince anyone. Afghanistan is faring no better after the exit of the Taliban, its women are still forced to cover themselves from head to toe with the 'burqa'. Afghanistan's main economic activity is poppy cultivation and its trade is the illegal trafficking of heroin. As for Iran, it was neither a paradise during the pre-1979 revolution period when Iran was a secular country under the rule of the Shah.