I refer to the letters Don't insult the Islamic authorities ... and Islamic authorities getting out of hand.

I was much intrigued by Mustapha Mahidin’s response to Omnu Martin’s pertinent piece on the Islamic authorities’ emboldened display of arrogance and belligerence as they ride roughshod over one and all, be they Muslims or non-Muslims.

Although he concedes that the Islamic authorities oftentimes have agendas that are not in the best interests of Islam or its followers, he appears to be content in remaining silent, accepting the status quo and doing nothing about it.

I would suggest to Mustapha Mahidin and other decent Muslims that as Islam is far more important than the individuals serving it and it is high time that they take steps to denounce and rein in over -zealous Islamic leaders and their counterparts who clearly do not believe that Islam is a peaceful, forgiving, loving and people-friendly religion to be admired and respected.

Given what we all know of the senseless wars that have been engineered and fought in the name of religion in the past and the countless numbers of innocent people that have perished because of it, it is imperative that we don’t turn back the clock by allowing religious deviants to take us there.

It is a fact of life that when there is an oversupply of a particular type of tradesmen, over-servicing is bound to occur in that trade. In the same way that an oversupply of lawyers can only adversely lead to more litigations and a surfeit of surgeons can only lead to more patients being put under

the knife, an excess of religious scholars will surely lead to more religious controversy and strife because of the powers of vested interests.

As peace-loving citizens of the world, let us, the followers of all religions, unite in condemning acts of violence, destruction and atrocities towards innocent people by perpetrators of all creeds, denominations and nationalities.

Let us all also unite in condemning those corrupt and unscrupulous politicians and their religious partners whose stock in trade is the manipulation of religion to their own political advantage.

Let us all act now. Malaysia is too precious a country to be brought down by complacency and inertia on the part of the rakyat.