I take Dr M Bakri Musa's article entitled [#1] Religious schools merely brain-wasting indoctrination centres [/#] as very presumptuous and unfair.

Firstly I call to question the ambiguous statistic of 25 percent of sixth formers from religious schools qualify for local universities. I would be tempted to ask how many Malays are there in the sixth form. To my understanding most of them go through matriculation. Besides 90 percent and 25 percent don't seem to add up, and thus require more clarification.

Secondly, the writer argues for the secularisation of knowledge, for the Muslims to advance. I would argue for the Islamisation of knowledge for us to progress. Separating science from God is not the answer, and there is not proof to support the author's assertions. In fact, I can take all his points as they are and argue in favour of Islamisation of our acquisition of knowledge.

Thirdly, if there are a small number of enrolment of students from Islamic schools in local universities, it only shows that these students place a different emphasis on education (i.e. to please God), and in a free country, we should respect their choice. If there is a connection between the 'secular' knowledge we learn and the divine, perhaps these students would be more interested in this knowledge.

Fourthly, and let me stop here, the low enrolment in local universities, if true, is not an indication of the failure of religious schools. You might be interested to know that there are currently, about 6,000 students enrolled for degree programmes in Egypt, almost all of them at the University of Al-Azhar, the premier university in Egypt. This is not including thousands of other Malaysian students in Jordan and Syria.

I have deep respect for the local religious institutions; I think there is need for improvement, but not the total overhaul as the writer advocates. In fact, I would argue for the return of traditional learning methods, for us to return to the once great nation we were.