I refer to the letter Malaysia aspiring to become an Arab nation . The writer criticises Arab countries and alleges that 'adultery and apostasy are met with stonings and beheadings'. For your readers' information, Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia are not the chief culprits when it comes to abuse of capital punishment.

In fact, 90 percent of the state-regulated executions which occur in the world are actually implemented by communist countries, namely the People's Republic of China. The PRC has executed more people in the past three months than the rest of the world did in the past three years. Even political activists are not spared from being executed.

When it comes to mass murder, the Arabs pale in comparison to the non-Arabs. It is estimated that there were approximately 100,000 civilian deaths during the invasion of Iraq by the international coalition, mainly due to aerial bombings.

Israel tops the list when it comes to prisoner abuse and detention. There are 12,000 Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails including women and children as young as 12 years old. The Israeli government actually permits and encourages the application of torture, including the breaking of bones of stone throwing demonstrators, the use of stressful seating positions for long periods of time as well as the use of loud noises, sleep deprivation and solitary confinement.

It is absolutely ludicrous to suggest that the Arabs are to be blamed for the dictators that rule over the lives. These dictators are Western puppets forced upon the Arab people and protected by Western military might.

In 1990, the world witnessed Operation Desert Storm which had an obvious goal - the re-installation of the Kuwaiti Emir back to his throne. Another case in point would be the Hamas-Fatah rivalry in the Palestinian territories. Hamas is extremely popular because of its clean and trustworthy image as well as its commendable efforts to build clinics and schools for the Palestinian people.

Despite the Hamas party subsequently winning the elections by a landslide victory, the Western nations in support of Israel have removed Hamas from power through the use of cruel and inhumane sanctions and imposed the Fatah party upon the Palestinian people. (Fatah is notorious for corruption and profiting from aid meant for the people).

Then pro-Western propagandists (such as the writer) will claim that the Arabs reject democracy, are corrupt and prefer violence to peaceful elections.