One can only wonder what a foreign tourist may think of Malaysia today. Had such a tourist landed on our shores a month ago, he or she may have decided to enjoy a night out with some local friends at one of Kuala Lumpur's famous clubs only to have the evening cut short by Jawi's 'moral guardians' barging into the place and arresting the Malaysian Muslims who happened to be on the premises

The tourist, still reeling after this unsolicited shock to his senses, would probably have put it down to one drink too many, and hoped that a quiet night in bed might restore some semblance of normality. But the next morning he or she may have read about the rounding up of alleged 'illegal migrants' all over the country, carried out at the behest of the powers-that-be and employing the help of volunteer groups once again snooping into the private sphere of Malaysians. By then the tourist in question would probably have learned that in Malaysia the punishment for illegal migrants include not only fines and detention, but also whipping: A mode of punishment that can only be described as medieval, brutal and dehumanising. Whither the so-called 'Asian values' that were meant to help create a 'caring society'?