Both Shaukat Ali and A Hakem 's letter not only exemplifies but showcase why PAS is not an alternative for non-Muslims in this country. A Hakem has it backwards - that in order to be treated well and equally, one must be Muslim and not the other way around - to be treated well and equally before one will accept Islam.

Shaukat Ali, demonstrates why PAS is in many ways the same as Umno, they are asking for someone else to pay for an experiment in theocracy. Similarly with PAS, they need to implement justice and equality before Islamic state not the other way around. PAS needs to prove they can attract foreign investments and develop the state of Kelantan and Terengganu before they can go on and not rely on remittances and natural resources and blaming Umno.

What A Hakem and much of PAS do not want to accept, and Umno does, is that while the non-bumiputera is not happy with Umno and BN, no one can offer them a better alternative. The truth is that after 46 years, the non-bumiputera knows one universal truth in Malaysian politics its better to live with the devil they know rather than risk it with even angels (especially self-profess ones) they do not know.

The fact is that the non-bumputera are overwhelmingly practical and tolerant and they know that

while not viewed as equals, they are indispensable to Umno and BN. The top echelon of Umno leadership knows this which is why all young radical leaders like Dr Mahathir and Anwar Ibrahim eventually come to term with it.

Even the most ultras and arrogant in Umno have heard that without non-bumiputera, the country could eventually implode under the strain of inward looking policies. It is these assurances that the non-bumiputera throw their weight behind BN and Umno. PAS insistence that the theocractic state is first and last negates these practical assurances.

If the non-bumiputera really want to only protest, it would largely go to the DAP even if they do not think much of them as demonstrated in the 1986 election. The decline of DAP has nothing to do with their principle, vision and goals but their failure to offer a real implementable alternative in the face of overwhelming odds.

It is the non-bumiputera practicality and tolerance that is the saviour of this country and the bane of the DAP. The truth is that non-bumiputera deserve more of the credit for this country's racial harmony, peace and progress than anything the government has come up with. Whenever the BN government has done well, it has done well because it has adopted the non-bumiputera views. Whether its encouraging foreign investment and open trade, privatisation, English in schools, meritocracy in education, most forget that these are and have always been the views of non-bumiputera.

It is these assurance that the BN government is moving closer to their views that the non-bumiputera think they still have a place in this country and their hope of eventual equality. The future of non-bumiputera lies in convincing the bumiputera of their view and not the other way around. The failure of the non-bumiputera is not being able to do so sooner and possibly delaying it by not offering a counter choice to a theocratic movement.

How the personal behaviour of the leadership of any political party is more often than not irrelevant to the public and formal side. If you have met the top echelon of Umno and BN leaders, you will find most of them personal, charming and concerned about everyone. The same can be said of the leaders of the Nazi parties, the communists of Russia, China and my personal favourite, Cuba's Fidel Castro.

It does not prevent the larger evil and destructions their policies and administration bring forth. More often than not good leaders have huge personal flaws while more often, those people with seemingly flawless personal character have made disastrous leaders. Even among Malaysians, Tunku drank alcohol, womanised and gambled, at least in his younger days. Dr M himself has a penchant for nice and expensive things and personal greed. Ironically, they were the best PMs this country has offered.

It is pointless for PAS to play the blame game with non-bumiputera in this country, they know it too well and probably have indulged in it with too much fever in the past. After 46 years of BN rule, they are too familiar with political trickery. They are unflinchingly convinced that they are fundamentally right about their worldview and ideology. The last 46 years have only convinced them that they are right about equality, meritocracy and secularity.

With one million relatives overseas doing very well in secular westernised countries, nothing can convince the vast majority of non-bumiputera that a theocracy can work. What they want is a party that will agree to their view and cannot be convinced otherwise. If PAS wins the non-bumiputera over with their existing views, then it is by exploiting their failures such as their penchant for short-term selfish interest.

But if they do so, then they become like Umno and BN and most likely worse. Then not only will the non-bumiputera be even more convinced they are right, PAS would have destroyed the very thing they are fighting for.