I refer to the current concerns on Malaysia's Islamic state position. It was reported in the broadcast media recently that Muslim minorities in the region are looking towards Malaysia as an Islamic state worth emulating.

I am an ethnic Malay and I have lived in a country where Muslims are a minority. Where the Malay culture and identity is slowly obliterated by assimilation in the cause of nationalism, it becomes natural for that minority of oppressed Malays to begin looking towards Islam as a source of identity and pride.

For minority Malays, Islam becomes a necessary unifying force and a link to a wider civilisation.

The fact that Muslim minorities may cite Malaysia as a 'model Islamic state' is not relevant to what Malaysians may decide for themselves on the issue.