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I refer to the letter I fear the paranoia of the majority .

Joe Ah Beng strikes the point of the ‘Allah’ ban right on the head. The way Fathima Idris and Arbibi Ashoy think is sadly indicative of the way some Malay Muslims think. It is the process of demonisation in the Malay mass media against the non-Muslims that makes for the fluctuating levels of paranoia and mistrust spread like a cancer in this country for over 30 years, and makes terribly warped allegations against Christians predictable and inevitable.

Some of the other sadly common beliefs that are consistent with such a sad world view is that the whole world is against Muslims, that the ethnic minorities are a threat to the Malays, Anwar Ibrahim has become a Hindu, the Armenian holocaust never happened, the Jewish holocaust is complete and total Zionist fiction and finally, that in Malaysia they will have us believe that non- Malay non-Muslims deliberately use the word ‘Allah’ for the sole purpose of trying to proselytise amongst Muslims.

The point here is that it is not what the Christians do or didn't do to create paranoia in the Malay Muslim community in Malaysia. Christians, like other minority groups, simply do not have the power to interpret reality to the Malay Muslim masses. Umno does. It is the deliberate and cynical creation of fear and paranoia in the Malay Muslim community by the Umno-controlled Malay mass media that determines the temperature levels of fear and mistrust in this country - it makes for very poor race relations indeed.

I am saddened by the revelation that even thinking educated Muslims like Fathima and Aribibi think so poorly of their Christian brothers and sisters

It is paranoia and the siege mentality that makes the following perversions justifiable and laudable:

- The allah ban

- The Iban Bible ban

- The demolition of Hindu temples

- The accusations against Indian newspaper vendors for not working on Deepavali

- The demolition of Orang Asli churches even when built on privately-owned land

- The 20-year delay in the approval for building a church in Shah Alam that was not even allowed to look like a church but more like a factory

- The creation of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th class citizens on the basis of race and religion (racial and religious apartheid instead of just racial apartheid)

- The judgments in the Subashini case (loss of the right of non-Muslims to the choice of their children’s religion and custody),

- The Lina Joy case (loss of the right to freedom of belief and conscience)

- The Kudat Mazu Goddess statue issue .

All these clearly go against common sense, natural law and natural justice. Sadly, the ways in which morality is warped by fear and paranoia in Malaysia is increasingly evident in our society. Who is the real culprit? Who is making millions and billions off this scam?

The Romans say whoever benefits the most from the crime is the guilty one so the only beneficiaries of ethnic conflict and poor race relations are none other than the Umnoputras and their BN partners.

Muslims and non-Muslims alike should keep in view at all times who is really pulling their emotional strings and vote in the party that is most likely to deliver a clean and honest government, and least likely to benefit from racial and religious divide-and-rule politics.

Umno has shown that it is prepared to sour ethnic relations whenever it benefits their electoral prospects. Clearly it is time to vote in a more sincere and accountable party at the next general elections.

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