Anas Abdullah's letter ' Raja Petra's statement not representative of Keadilan ' hit the nail on the head when he pointed out that such a statement was clumsy, counter-productive and uncalled for at best, and will only give more ammunition to the opponents of the party and increase the public's worries and doubts about Keadilan at worst.

Malaysians have had their fill of such gangster-like intimidation tactics, both from Umno and PAS, who seem bent on monopolising the discourse of Islam for their own political ends and who seem disinclined to allow other actors and agents to enter the contested discursive space between them.

Keadilan, with its multi-racial and multi-religious leadership profile still has some chance to break new ground and open up a third space for alternative voices of moderation and progressive Islam to speak out - particularly on matters of national relevance such as the Islamic state, that will affect all Malaysians, regardless of their religious grouping.

However the first step towards this is for Keadilan to practise what it preaches and to discard this tendency towards closing and arresting public speech with spurious calls for action to be taken against the so-called 'enemies of Islam', real or imagined.

There are some points which I believe should be highlighted here:

Firstly, Islam is strong enough to stand up to any rigorous questioning and interrogation. If Muslims believe with certainty in the fundamental tenets of their faith then they should not fear being questioned about it. It is a mistake to assume that all such questions are intended to slur or diminish the worth of Islam - indeed many of these questions are being asked by people who are genuinely curious and wish to learn more. The prerequisite for such a healthy, mature debate is to keep the doors of dialogue and ijtihad (rational enquiry) open. We don't need self-proclaimed mullahs and semi-mullahs who tell us what we can think, speak or ask.

Secondly, we all need to recognise that the normative practice and understanding of Islam in Malaysia has been distorted thanks to the Islamisation race between Umno and PAS. Both parties are equally responsible for shifting the centre of public discourse to the religious register, in their pathetic attempt to shore up their vote banks and play to exclusive communitarian interests much to the detriment of nation-building and national unity. Our criticisms have to cut both ways, and all parties responsible need to be blamed accordingly.

Thirdly, we need to remember that the political deployment of Islam as a rallying call and communal banner is set against the context of the sectarian racist politics of Malaysia, which nearly all parties in this country are responsible for. The use of terms like 'kafirs', 'enemies of Islam', etc are just the latest entries into a political culture torn apart by communitarianism and we should never divorce the two: religious intolerance in Malaysia is intimately linked to the twisted racialist politics we practice.

And finally to support Anas Abdullah's argument in his letter we must understand that this is why any healthy debate about religion, politics, the Islamic state, etc must stand above and beyond the communalist mindset that is prevalent in the country today. The writer is right to point out that the DAP's criticism of the Islamic state has taken a turn towards communitarianism as well, playing to the predominantly Chinese gallery and whipping up fears of Islam and Malays. This is short-sighted of DAP and counter-productive as well. It also adds to the impression (held by many) that despite its socialist ideological background, the DAP is also a ethnocentric party that plays the racial card when it suits it the most.

The point is that we Malaysians need to create a new politics that transcends both racial and religious sectarianism, and that focuses on our rights as Malaysian citizens of this state. As citizens we must all have the same rights to speak, act and participate in the political arena. Any political party that seeks a national mandate must likewise turn to the nation as a whole, and not a select community which it regards as its 'natural' political constituency.

The saddest thing about the state of affairs in Malaysia today is that despite being 'independent' since 1957, we have yet to evolve a national politics that works on ideological lines, addresses structural/economic issues, and which sees all Malaysian citizens as its audience. Rather all we have are communitarian parties on both sides of the BN/non-BN divide, and communitarianism and sectarianism is mirrored by both.

To cap it off we now have our home grown Taliban-wannabes who go around telling Malaysians that they have no right to talk about Islam unless they have the stamp of approval of the mullahs. We truly have nothing to be proud of in this nation of ours.