I totally agree with BA's objections ([#1] We are people, not animals [/#], Feb 17) and take this opportunity to condemn the near abuse of foreigners by the relevant authorities in Kuala Lumpur.

There is not a single day that uniformed officers do not harass foreign-looking people on the streets of KL. Their very presence shows that Malaysia is indeed a police state.

Being a foreigner, I was also asked for my passport. Sometimes it is done so rudely that it barely hides the truth of the mentality of many Malaysians in general.

At times the officers try to find something wrong with my passport, but their faces turn sour when they learn that I am married to a local woman.

My documents are valid so they leave me alone. Yet there have been cases, even recently, when people with valid documents were simply dragged away from their working place (my wife's shop, for example) and brought like animals to a stadium.

I noticed some of the officers do not even know how to read visas or understand what's written there.

The authorities should not harass people on the street. Look at other neighbouring countries. There is no such thing as 24-hour police patrol in the streets.

Singapore is clean of police presence on the roads, Jakarta has some police patrols, but they do not harass foreigners and neither do Hong Kong and Bangkok, where I have been.

Foreigners are people; they bring a lot of money to Malaysia and take so little from it. If Malaysia is really an Islamic country, then please stop this bestial attitude to foreigners.