Kindly allow me to reply to the letter Unanswered questions of bumiputera division .

The writer apparently feels offended over my query and has questioned the paraphrase 'actively preserving their culture and heritage'.

My explanation was based strictly within the Malaysian context. The culture and heritage that Indian Muslims preserve can be seen, for instance, in the sense of their spoken language. Tamil Muslims speak Tamil.

The same goes for Malayalees, Telegus or other Indian ethnics who are of the Muslim faith. It identifies them as Indians, not Malays or other races that have the bumiputera status. Indian Muslim women, especially the older generation, use the saree and not the 'baju kebaya'.

I agree with the writer's statement that being Indian does not necessarily mean being a Hindu. At the same time, one cannot deny the fact that the conferring of the bumiputera status onto the majority race in this country is certainly unique.

It is a form of discrimination that is definitely is not in line with Islam. Based on my rather restricted reading on the Quran, I dare subscribe to the fact that such a status is not at all mentioned in that holy book. From my point of view, the bumiputera status is a discriminative policy practised by the government in Malaysia.

The concept of 'ummah' in Islam unifies mankind but the concept of bumiputera in a Muslim majority state divides society.

To counter my earlier argument, the writer also put forth the case of a Westernised Malay Muslim who habitually speaks and writes in English, who always uses a fork and spoon for his meals and who never wears any traditional attire of the Malays.

But there is a legal definition of bumiputera in Malaysia. Unfortunately I am unable to state it here due to my lack of legal background. In the West, there is no such discrimination as 'bumiputera'.

Dina Zaman's article did, to a certain degree, reveal the Malay-ness of Westernised Malay Muslims. A Westernised Malay Muslim cannot be a bumiputera unless he or she is first and foremost a Malaysian.

My last point in countering the unanswered questions of bumiputera division is that some Indian Muslims can - at least on paper - join Umno. Why can't other non-Malays?