I am Chinese and do not belong to any political party. I do not know how angry Malays may be with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, but I fully agree with some of the points brought up by Malay Academic on the controversial cartoon by Zunar that appeared in Harakah .

Yes, he is absolutely right in saying that he "cares not what the Chinese wish to eat". As long as he stays away from pork and leaves the Chinese alone with their pork, he commits no wrong. The issue here is the message in this cartoon by Zunar, not the pig.

Firstly, the message never related the Chinese community to the pig. What makes us think that we own the pig so much so that no one else could use it even as a symbol to deliver a message?

Are we becoming as sensitive as some untouchables that every time someone mentions the word 'pig', we storm their building and threaten to burn it down? Come on, it is time to grow up and stop being used as political tools all the time.

Leave others alone to argue their own case. They are talking about sekolah agama rakyat (SAR) here, not the pig. How about our Chinese schools?

Secondly, the cartoon appeared in Harakah , a political publication meant for PAS members. Members of PAS are Muslims, and that is the way they depict the animal called the pig. Leave them alone to draw whatever animal they want, as long as they do not put a pig's head on a Chinese body.

Are we saying that they cannot draw a cow because it may offend the Hindus? Now, if we go by the same logic then the Americans will really storm our country if we put an eagle next to Mahathir's face. The Americans would say that we are degrading their national symbol, the eagle.

Lastly, some argue that it has not been scientifically proven that pig causes Sars. So what? This is not about science, it is about a political message.

At this point in time, who knows what Sars is and where it comes from? There are more scientifically logical facts around, but if you were the cartoonist, wouldn't this be the best picture to deliver the strongest message?

The hottest global news now is Sars, the issue on hand is SAR, the audience are Muslims, and it was indeed mentioned at one time that Sars may be caused by the pig. No scientific facts are needed to deliver the political message.

You can go on and on about who owns the pig and cow. Even the picture of human beings has been subjected to controversy.

Didn't PAS blank out a picture of woman in an ice-cream advertisement? Get the stupidity out of our lives, and let's move on to make the country better.