COMMENT Amid the cacophony that followed hard upon Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali's call to Muslims to burn Bibles that use the ‘Allah' term for God, one was hard put to find a reaction and a reminder more bracing than what emerged from the Penang state minister for religion.

Abdul Malik Abul Kassim, the PKR state assemblyperson who has been holding the sensitive religious portfolio in the DAP-led Pakatan Rakyat state government since 2008, was quoted earlier this week as saying:

"We are told not to kick, throw or burn any holy book. Those who want to do these acts are discrediting Islam in the eyes of the world."

Nothing very profound about this reminder by a politician of quietly effective and often under appreciated capability, but still, putting it alongside the screeching of other respondents to the controversy, Malik's counsel is one of...