I refer to the malaysiakini article, "We're not publicity seekers: PUM" (Feb 15). There are a number of points I take issue with, beginning with the fact that PUM and the media continue to speak, write and act as if I and the others whom the PUM complained against are already guilty, and not as if a report has been lodged about whether in fact we have insulted Islam.

This is a deception in the way PUM talks about it, and a gross injustice by the media. An example is the article by Nash Rahman where he writes "... for their controversial remarks pertaining to religion."

Did I make a controversial remark insulting Islam? Let's look at what the PUM memorandum itself says about me. It quotes from an NST report: "In major national exams such as the PMR, she added, students have to indicate whether they are Muslim or non-Muslim. And yet, as many of us know, Islam abhors the idea of assabiyah or ethnic and nationalistic differentiation."

Note that I was raising nothing new, as this was a statement that was made earlier by a number of groups including Aliran, and it was featured in the mainstream media. More importantly, I was pointing out that the differentiation or discrimination being protested was not required in Islam.

Thus I was defending Islam by giving an accurate understanding for the largely non-Muslim audience at the Bar Council Forum at which I made this statement, rather than have the audience think that Islam was the source of such a controversial action. My statement was part of a presentation, copies of which were distributed to those who asked for it including the press. Let me quote from my opening paragraph:

"Fifteen minutes will not allow me to nuance what I say with the deep respect and affection I have for the religion I chose to study. I chose to study Islam because I saw the need to bridge the ignorance that exists between Muslims and non-Muslims in Malaysia it is an ignorance which is the source of much fear and bigotry on both sides.

But this ignorance and bigotry is both enabled and exacerbated by the way just about all public discourse and public space in Malaysia is appropriated by politics. What ensues then is very polemical and polarised, and I often feel there is no objective or neutral space where we academics can share our learning and research which is our responsibility in a civil society."

My statement seems almost prescient for the current issue! From all this, how did PUM, and for that matter anyone else, decide that I have insulted Islam and denigrated the Prophet? Or condemned the ulama (Muslim scholars), among whom are those I consider friends?

Some distinguished alim (pious person) and my lawyers have informed me that the PUM accusation against me would not stand up to any kind of investigation, yet my name is now synonymous with "controversial statements" and " menghina Islam (insult Islam)."

Why did the PUM decide only to lodge a complaint against me and not other civil society groups including non-Muslim political parties which have spoken up repeatedly and far more strongly about issues regarding the way Islam impacts them?

This selective prosecution (persecution?) by PUM needs to be addressed, because they are going after a few individuals and not institutions or leading figures on both sides of the political divide who have made many statements about Islam and the ulama in the few weeks before PUM issued their memorandum.

Even if there are other contexts that are justifiable of the PUM ire, why go after a few ordinary individuals? Because it is safer and easier? Because by condemning others then they look righteous by default?

Does the PUM understand the ramifications of their action on our lives, our careers, our peace of mind and our families? Some of those who responded in the media or in feature articles, even when criticising the PUM action, started off by saying that PUM had the democratic right to lodge its complaint.

I wept when I read these statements, because PUM abrogated my democratic right by simply condemning me and lodging a serious report against me. They never even bothered to check a statement purportedly made by me and reported in a newspaper. I wept also because I know how the ethos of justice, compassion and mercy reverberate in Islam, as every chapter of the Quran begins with "Bismillah Al Rahman Al Rahim" (in the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate).

And now PUM, according to the malaysiakini report, will monitor public speeches and statements, threatening to refer "contrary" statements and speeches to appropriate authorities, stating that they want everyone to consult the ulama on matters pertaining to Islam.

The ulama have many disagreements among themselves (not a problem, there is a scholarly tradition of ikhtilaf (difference) among the alim in Islam, especially regarding fiqh (jurisprudence). But will the PUM be condemning other ulama who are not members of PUM and whose statements are deemed "contrary"?

The issue here is not only PUM choosing to act as if only it defends Islam, and from this premise, that it will be a vigilante group policing everyone else. The issue is also about the fundamental right of Malaysians to engage with Islam.

It is the right to think, speak and write (respectfully, of course) about a defining element of our lives and nation in the way Muslims like Farish Noor and others have written about other religions sometimes including harsh but factual statements about Christianity's history, for example.

No one has gone and lodged reports against these writers for "insulting" Christians. Instead, some of us have reached out to welcome these border crossings.

The PUM started off by foreclosing my right and that of a few others to speak up about Islam. It now looks like they have set their sights on the whole nation.