Information ministry parliamentary secretary Zainuddin Maidin was spot on when he criticised the Malaysian Muslim Scholars Association (PUM) for not including the PAS leaders in its complaints to the Conference of Rulers.

It only singled out renowned and knowledgeable writers like The Star 's Karim Raslan and malaysiakini 's columnist Dr Farish A Noor whose writings merely reflect the tolerance in Islam and its capacity to accommodate discourse and modernity in their complaint.

It is however heartening to hear that even PAS president Fadzil Noor did not give unqualified support to PUM and that PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali was of the leaning that "gates to ijtihad (discussion)" on Islam should not be closed (Specify allegations against "abusers" of Islam, Feb 8).

In making such a complaint, PUM obviously shows a reactionary antipathy to discourse and its wish to preserve by intimidation an orthodox approach to religion that is out of line with the times and progress.

PUM should not be entertained at all.