I refer to the malaysiakini report PM: Yes, we ARE an Islamic state.

Nowadays, the politicians want to 'syiok sendiri' with their public statements as they play to the gallery. Twisting their own previous statements, they show that they themselves are not genuine and don't stand by their own words.

How can we ever believe in a person like that again? Once bitten, twice shy and twice bitten, never forgiven.

First and foremost, the government must take into the consideration the agreements with which Sabah and Sarawak joined Malaysia. By virtue of the two states' agreement and the Federal Constitution, it is accepted that the two states were agreed to join a secular nation - not an Islamic state.

When Dr Mahathir Mohamd made his 'Islamic state' declaration, it was to check PAS' rising influence then. But now Umno and its BN coalition partners are trying to show that they are more religious than PAS by attempting to change the constitution. On top of that, we have people promoting Wahabbism (Saudi Arabia's brand of Islam) instead of our old, tried, tested and proven homegrown Islam which was at its best before 1982.

Secondly, the rulers of the respective states are the heads of the religion for their respective states and we do not know if they have given their consent for Islam Hadhari which was introduced by the prime minister.

The recent calls by the Sultan of Selangor and the Regent of Perak Raja Nazrin Shah are timely as they both referred to the federal constitution, the bedrock of the nation. The government must study in depth the contents of theirs speeches which appealed greatly to the common 'rakyat'.

We have passed 50 years of independence and the government must remain relevant to the 'rakyat' in another 50 years to come or be prepared to be swept away by a tidal wave of dissent. The 'rakyat' has access to various sources of information and they will evaluate and make their decision. Once done, no persuasion can change their mindset.