I wish to comment on the letter by Malay Academic.

As a person who mixes well with other races in this country, I understand full well the frustration of a large segment of the Malay community over the sekolah agama rakyat (SAR) issue and, consequently, their resentment against Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad.

Still, I trust there are many ways for Malaysians to express their anger without generating unnecessary fear, misunderstanding or antagonism from other communities.

By Malaysians, I mean even non-Muslims or non-Malays should feel indignant about the high-handedness of the prime minister in dealing with the SAR issue. After all, we are in the same boat.

If he in the end manages to do away with all the religious schools that are not to his liking, it would not be long before Tamil and Chinese schools find themselves in peril.

Cartoonist Zunar should not have solely relied on 'common knowledge' to draw a caricature that might, or might not, convey the anger of Malays, but upset non-Malays as well.

Implying that pigs are the source of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak will only antagonise largely Chinese pork consumers, unless such view is backed by scientific evidence. The fact is, it is not. The closest culprit that medical experts have identified so far appears to be the civet cat and a final confirmation of this is still a long way off.

If Muslims or Malays would like other communities to emphathise with their campaign to keep religious schools, which I think I do, such a cartoon would only achieve the opposite result. It might make the Mahathir-basher feel good, but one does not win more allies by doing so.

Despite the 'setback' of the alternative politics at home in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks on the United States, I remain optimistic that many Malaysians are quietly hoping for change.

To forge a coherent alliance in the face of the omnipresent Barisan Nasional, one must not play Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. It is a well-known fact that PAS, DAP and Parti Keadilan all sing different tunes to different communities, and Zunar's recent blunder is only a case in point of this harsh reality.

Just imagine what MCA would say to PAS-wary Chinese with that cartoon in hand, and half the effort by PAS to woo Chinese voters over the last few years may just go down the drain.

Unlike Malay Academic, I do not see the tussle over Sekolah Agama Rakyat as a battle between the Malays against one Mahathir Mohamad, but part of a wider struggle for democratisation of Malaysia and one that should not exclude other races.

If one narrows the issue down to being merely a communal or religious fight, one will only entrench the communalisation of Malaysian politics.

Finally, I agree with others that PAS deserves our commendation for its swift action to retract the cartoon and its courage to apologise over the issue. This boldness and honesty of PAS leaders clearly project the ultra-arrogant Barisan Nasional, and Umno in particular, in a very bad light.

Let's hope this will usher in a new political culture whereby our politicians will be humble enough to realise that they are what they are because the rakyat have trust in them, and that public office ought not be trivialised.