If some newspapers are to be believed, we are in the midst of ethnic warfare. The sentiments are so strong that some Malaysians have taken to demonstrating with the severed head of a cow to make their point. They claimed that they were at the end of their tethers; that the Pakatan Rakyat assemblyperson they voted for had betrayed Islam and that their MP was a liar.

The decision to relocate a Hindu temple into a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood is the reason for the protest. Meanwhile up north in Penang, a group of Indian Malaysians took the state government to task by holding them to their unfulfilled election promise. They now face eviction from their homes, an urban village once belonging to the Brown family.

In the hallowed halls of Universiti Malaya, the Indian Studies faculty members successfully got their case heard and no less than in the cabinet. MIC's sole minister gave them assurances that the status quo remains; their department will not be "changed" and that an Indian Malaysian would be appointed departmental head.

Are these three incidents isolated with nothing to do with each other?