‘PAS, please be more broad-minded. If a person wants alcohol, he will travel to get it no matter how far. And remember that non-Muslims also voted for you.'

On Alcohol ban: Trouble brewing in Pakatan

Ms Leo: PAS must remember that the non-Malays/non-Muslims voted in PAS because we had no choice. The only way to get rid of the BN regime was to vote for PAS if that was the party that represented the opposition.

There are other important matters to look into than this alcohol banning. PAS, please be more broad-minded. If a person wants alcohol, he will travel to get it no matter how far.

If this banning is what PAS wants, then at the next election DSAI will have to study hard who to select to stand as a representative. Non-Muslims for sure will not vote for PAS.

For example, the Titiwangsa candidates were only PAS and BN so we had no choice but to choose PAS.

If there was an additional PKR candidate, for sure we would have voted for PKR instead. PAS, better think ahead for all the races.

Be broad-minded please. Work for us too because we voted you in, PAS.

MS: I urge readers to respond to PAS's proposal to ban the sale of alcohol at 7-11s and 24-hour mini- marts.

I, for one, (a non-Muslim and parent) am firmly in support of banning these all-hour outlets from selling alcoholic drinks cheaply and indiscriminately.

Just look outside almost any 7-11 outlet late at night and at the type of consumers of their beer which often includes young students.

Alcoholic drinks should be restricted in their availability to those whose lifestyles can afford it. It is not about Islamic principles or democracy. It is about the common good.

Even Western countries where it is their norm to consume alcohol socially, do have restrictions on where and when such beverages can be sold.

Non-smoker: If there were anything to be banned it should be smoking. One has the right to consume alcohol or smoke but no one has the right to put others at risk.

The one who drinks, drinks alone. The one who smokes, makes the rest around them to smoke involuntarily, including their children, through second-hand smoke.

I thought there is a special ruling/enforcement against anyone who smokes in a restaurant? But I see no action being taken.

I see many smokers and I always have the check the direction of the wind before choosing a to sit down in a restaurant.

it is very sad to see mothers/fathers smoking with their children is playing happily just beside them without knowing that they are inhaling dangerous and polluted air.

Can we ban this first?

On Bouquets, brickbats for yoga fatwa

Siva Pragathese: Non-yoga practitioners must restrain themselves from commenting about yoga's status.

Asking for ‘chanting and meditation' to be dropped from yoga is like telling a Muslim it's okay to read the Quran but do not pray five times a day. God forbid.

The Malaysian Yoga Association must be firm on its stand. Yoga is holistic, it is never complete without all the elements.

Hence the fatwa must be respected by all. Non-Muslims should not question subjects that do not involve them. The National Fatwa Council safeguards Muslims from deviating from their faith.

The Malaysian Hindu Sangam should learn from the National Fatwa Council on being vigilant. Yoga should now be under the purview of the Malaysian Hindu Sangam.

Anonymous: I believe many people are unsure if fatwa issued by the National Fatwa Council after assent by the state rulers have the force of law.

If they are merely guidelines for all Muslims and it is up to them to follow and pay the price in the hereafter, then it's alright. But in Malaysia, if I am not mistaken, fatwa once formalised will have the force of law.

That means the Islamic religious authorities can actually go on their moral policing rounds and arrest you if you are practicing yoga. This then becomes a human rights issue.

Are not Malaysian Muslims given the personal freedom and free will to practice their religion according to their personal free will? That is the issue. After all, fatwa are merely interpretations and are not cast in stone.

I personally think religion should be within the premise of one's personal free will and space and should not be within the premise of the state's authority or control. The state should remain secular. In fact I believe a truly Islamic state is a secular state.

Since we are on the issue of fatwa , can we have a fatwa on whether Ketuanan Melayu and bumi/non-bumi can be an ideologies that can be practiced by Muslims.

I think these issues are more important for Muslims and non Muslims in Malaysia.

Juslo:

If they think it is appropriate to encroach into the domains of exercises and sports, well, they should ban Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid and AC Milan.

Why? Because if you wear a Manchester United t-shirt, you are basically wearing the symbol of the devil ('Red Devil').

If you are a supporter of Barcelona, Real Madrid and AC Milan, you are wearing a Christian cross (not forgetting the huge 'Calsberg' sign on Liverpool's jerseys).

On Indian M'sians 'dying in police custody'

R Thayakugan: MIC concurs with the request by the two PKR leaders following the death of an Indian youth at the Sungai Petani police station lock-up recently

Throughout the years, MIC Youth has been sending numerous memorandums to the police force and the home ministry requesting for an independent commission and/or inquiry to be formed/convened to probe these deaths of Indians in lock-ups but to no avail

We also had a dialogue session with the IGP and the police top brass regarding the death of a youth while in police custody in Bulit Beruntung in 2007.

To date, no action or concrete proposals have been put forward by the relevant authorities to resolve the issue.

The lock-up rules are breached and only minor punishments are metted out to police officers.

MIC Youth demands that the police force disclose their findings in public on the cases of deaths of Indians in police custody ( the writer represents MIC Youth's Legal Bureau ).

On Nazri escapes privileges committee

Ready for Pakatan:

Once again, we see the biased speakers at work. So many times have they taken obvious sides with the government no matter how grossly they behave in Parliament.

There is no fairness, no transparency, it is all just berat sebelah . They think educated citizens will take kindly to all this?

Continue with this nonsense and the whole BN will sink into oblivion in the next general election, taking with them these incompetent speakers who are still living in a deluded world of their own.

On MIC man suggests gov't bailout for Maika

Vijay: While others (especially the Maika investors) support this suggestion, my opinion is that this should not be done. Just bailing out Maika won't do it.

The failure of Maika Holdings is not due just to economic downturns but complete mismanagement.

The whole management of Maika need to be restructured before such a bail-out can even considered. Therefore, the investors should be doing this (restructuring) first.

On Cloud of suspicion lifted from Najib

Adcin: I fail to see how Razak Baginda's declaration that Najib and Rosmah do not know or have not met Altantuya has lifted a cloud over the couple's head as the writer has claimed.

Even if it is true that they have not met before, it is still possible that the deceased had information that could be very damaging to Najib's political aspirations? Regardless of whether they met before, could not Najib still be held to ransom for a possible indiscretion or misdemeanour?

So what if they did know or have met the deceased before? Of course, by the same token as above, it does not make them any more guilty. After all it was very possible that they could have met due to Razak Baginda's close ties with Najib.

Najib has sworn that he has not met her before so for the sake of his ambitions, there had better not be any evidence surfacing like photographs, witnesses or proof of him being at the same place at the same time.

Rest assured if such was out there, there will be a most opportune moment to reveal it all, maybe just before March next year for maximum impact, not now , which can lead to a chaotic Umno.

Fact is, we don't really know whether he had known her or met her before and it would not even have been an issue had not been for his flat-out denial.

In a way, this has made it easier for his rivals to bring him down, So to Najib's supporters, do not count your chickens or singing birds, until the moment to strike passes, which is still some time away.

On Dr M: Money politics will ruin Umno in GE

Wong Hoy Yuen: The cry against money politics, the euphemistic term for bribing one's way into political positions, is again heard loudly in the run up to the Umno general assembly. One of the most vociferous and prominent persons against money politics is none other than the former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

His stand against money politics has been consistent from his days as the PM up until now as a retiree. He has asked for deterrent punishments against those found guilty of money politics in order to wipe out the disease.

It is clear as daylight that money politics exists and persists because the financial rewards that await the winner, his or her family, relatives, friends and cronies, are so immensely attractive that its worth paying these bribes, risking severe punishment and even going into debt in order to win the race to the proverbial pot of gold.

As long as the leaders of our country continue to cast a blind eye to the disease of corruption for top government positions, the symptoms of money politics can never be eliminated.

These points are particularly relevant to Mahathir. As a person trained in medicine, would he not have diagnosed money politics as a symptom? Why was it that he could not identify the underlying disease?

And if he was aware of the disease, shouldn't he be treating it instead of the symptoms? And if the disease began during his time, why didn't he treat it at the early stages as it should be?

On Namewee in a new video controversy

The Healer: Here we go again. Although ‘Negarakuku' was creative, but this time, his recent video does not truly reflect the message he wishes to convey.

Sadly, Namewee, I can't draw the connection between explicit sexually suggestive scenes to the unhealthy state of our education system, especially on your point on language diversity.

Are you suggesting that language diversity pollutes the mind? Or are you suggesting that language diversity encourages students in selective learning?

I have been brought up to study maths and science in Mandarin in primary school, followed by BM in secondary school and finally English in high school. Yes, the challenge is to familiarise yourself with technical terms and it is not easy at all.

However, with some due effort and sufficient resources, one can make it. Nevertheless, I must qualify that my view is quite biased, because I am brought up in a conducive environment for such learning. My concern, therefore, goes out to those who do not have such access, ie rural schools.

I am now studying in Singapore. I have met many Malaysians from independent Chinese schools, students from mainland China and from India. Although the language of instruction is English, the students from China and India shine.

Is language a barrier? Maybe not. Nevertheless, to a certain extent, while entering universities in the West will be a challenge, excelling in your studies is not impossible.

Furthermore, I now appreciate the many languages I know - Bahasa Malaysia, English and Mandarin. Because of this, I am able to communicate comfortably with others from different parts of the world.

It would be nice if I knew Tamil or Hindi. Then, I can reach out wider. Fact is, relationships are fueled by communication.

On Refer Zaki to royal tribunal: Karpal to PM

A Bukit Gelugor Observer: Don't you have something better to do? I say this when referring to the statement of the Bukit Gelugor MP.

I wish that he can do something better for the people of Gelugor than doing this to the chief justice.