Some 45 years ago when I was still attending junior high school, someone read to me Churchill's 'This was their finest hour' speech. Of course, he didn't sound like Churchill but who cares? My mother tongue is Malay and till today I cannot speak like an Englishman.

But what really mattered was that the short speech was so powerful in its appeal to my adolescent idealism that it inspired me to want to know more of other cultures and histories.

As I relate this, I am aware that mine is not really an exceptional case. Like many other Muslims of my time, I grew up in an environment steeped in tradition and religious rituals. At the same time, I was often exposed to other faiths and cultures including Western civilisation and values.

In the process, it was only natural that apart from the Quran and the Hadith, I was also familiar with the works of Dante, Shakespeare, and TS Eliot (which, by the way, also kept me company during my six years of solitary confinement).

In high school, it was not considered unusual for Muslim students to be able to quote from memory, verses from Shakespeare, or the speeches of Churchill or Abraham Lincoln. While we were familiar with the Arabic songs of Ummi Kalthoum and Fairuz and the music of Abdul Wahhab we were also very much at home with the ballads of Bing Crosby and the rock and roll numbers of Elvis Presley.