M Singh ("Turban, the next target after tudung?") is right in putting the issue of tudung ban in Singapore in a larger context of how minorities in Singapore are treated.

Although wearing the tudung is a tradition of female Muslims, I wish to join in the protest against the ban for two reasons:

First, if the principle of universal human rights is not defended against authoritarian encroachment, the next target could be any one, including Sikhs in Singapore who choose to wear turbans, even though it is still allowed at the moment.

Second, what has wearing tudung , or otherwise, to do with 'racial integration'? Look at those Chinese male yuppies who wear ear-rings and dye their hair red, yellow or pink, hanging around in shopping malls along Orchard Road! They are not only eyesores to decent Singaporeans of all races, but offensive to Asian culture. Why doesnt the PAP government ban the practice? For fear of losing Chinese votes?

In fact, in Singapore, the minorities not only include Muslims, Indians and Sikhs, but also the Chinese-educated Chinese, especially those of the older generation. My neighbour, who is a graduate of the now defunct Chinese-language Nanyang University, for example, always privately expresses his bitterness against the English-educated Chinese elites who, in the words of M Singh, always imagine or fancy themselves as descendants of the Greek or Romans, or American or British governors in an Asian society.

Singapore is facing a crisis: the crisis of cultural identity among its English-educated Chinese in the leadership of PAP.