COMMENT | Multiracial, multicultural, and multifaith Malaysia is in crisis. As far as I can remember, the Malaysia in which I grew up has always been a tolerant nation; but the country I left and returned to in the early 1990s was not the place I’d left behind, a decade earlier.

Creeping fundamentalism was slowly taking hold in Peninsular Malaysia. Religion no longer became a personal belief but a matter for public consumption.

Discourse among the Malays focused on fundamentalism and Islamism (or political islam) and not far behind, was racism. We were also crippled by the teachings of the National Civics Bureau (BTN).

Today, in 21st Century Malaysia, it is people like Abdul Hadi Awang, the outspoken president of PAS, and his conservative brethren - with their narrow and warped interpretation of Islam - that will bring Malaysia to a point of no return.

The foundation built by our multi-ethnic leaders at Merdeka risk being buried under the landslide of fundamentalist Islamism of the past 45 years.