In Not just a Malay-Muslim problem , Farish A Noor raised some very interesting questions for non-Muslims to answer. We have seen our fellow Malaysians being herded into a caged van to be taken for interrogation and charged for the very same things we, the non-Muslims, do openly. And we do nothing?

These Muslims were identified and were hauled in to be judged by mere mortals whose ideas of morality and immorality cannot possibly stand up to scrutiny if put to the test.

In this situation, what is it that we as non-Muslims can do to assist? A non-Muslim lawyer, sitting with his Muslim client, would appear not to have any powers to intercede if a religious enforcement officer was to suddenly act on his powers to apprehend the Muslim for a religious 'misdemeanour'.

Somehow this situation has its parallel in Nazi Germany when Jews were specifically picked up for 'special treatment'. I can imagine an occasion when the Gestapo would have barged into a restaurant or cafe or even a theater and ordered all Jews to one side.

And I'm sure, there were some German then who might have said that it was not really their problem. Which brings us back to that nightclub in Kuala Lumpur. Could a non-Muslim have interceded? What would have happened if a non-Muslim had indeed interceded? What if one of the women taken had actually been there with her non-Muslim boyfriend? What if he had tried to intercede?

How will my Muslim friends who get picked up in the future view my impotence at not being able to intercede on their behalf? Do you reckon that they are going to feel that we non-Muslims cannot be trusted when needed most?

Non-Muslims seem to be turning a blind eye and I wouldn't blame any of the Muslims detained that day - emancipated and liberal though they may be - to now not have faith in their non-Muslim fellow Malaysians to come to their aid.

Indeed, we have all become so attuned to being indifferent to the point that blatant discrimination against our fellow Malaysians is met with silence.

When Germany fell, every other German maintained that they did not know that the Jews were being sent to the slaughter and, therefore, they were not guilty. Convenient, wasn't it?