Aizuddin Danian's letter Scenario of Malaysia under Islamic laws made remarkable sense, not so much because of the answers it suggested, but because of the questions it posed.

Reasonable people, and I suggest including Aizuddin himself, will be fully aware of what the right answers are, without the need to be further prompted in any way. But I'd just like to add more views to it:

First, what we are asked to believe by those who want an Islamic state in Malaysia is that the Muslims of Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Libya, Somalia, Sudan etc. are bad Muslims and that their Islamic states are not the real ones.

Furthermore, we are asked to believe that only PAS Muslims are the really good ones and against the grain of historical and global evidence only they will be able to re-create the paradise that was Medina of over a millennium ago.

Nevertheless, we are asked to accept that the inhabitants of the most backward states of Malaysia will bring forth and create this heaven on earth, in which all, including non-Muslims, will live in absolute peace and wonderment!

There is a paradox in the way PAS Islamists dismiss the experiences of Islamic regimes in countries such as Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. You see, we say (quite sensibly, I think): 'Look at Afghanistan!' But they say: 'Don't look at Afghanistan!' That is the utter paradox.

Their second argument that PAS' syariah rule will be benevolent based on Kelantan's experience for almost a decade is also flawed. Though the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Bill 1993 was passed unanimously by all 36 state assembly reps, including two from Umno, the Bill has not become law because it is has not received the legal facilitation needed from the federal government.

That is the reason why we have not seen, as Aizuddin pointed out, the application of the more sensitive areas of syariah law, hudud in particular, and no public stoning, whippings, or amputation executions in Kelantan, and not because either 'syariah law is working and crime rates are very low or hudud punishments are very difficult to apply, either for political or practical reasons'.