At the onset, US visa restrictions on male Muslims (16 to 45 of age) would appear, as what DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang described - insensitive profiling and stereotyping of Muslim males that "strengthens the impression that US is conducting a war between the West and Islam".

US Secretary of State Colin Powell was reported to have said: "We want people to come to our shores but at the same time, we have to protect ourselves. This will be a temporary measure for a number of countries."

The United States may not want to conduct a war against Islam or all the 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide but it cannot be disputed that many Muslims do perceive that the US and its allies (whether Western like UK, or Asian like Japan or even Muslim like Musharraf''s Pakistan or international like the United Nations) are conducting a war against Islam or at least the extreme political brand of Islam and for a few thousands others, they have already answered the jihad call of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, and have gone to Afghanistan to fight on the side of the Taliban.

According to reports, in many parts of the Muslim world, Osama is already widely considered a hero. His popularity amongst Islamic fundamentalists is evidenced by the growing number of parents across the Middle East naming their baby boys after him and some teenage boys hang his poster like a rock star while the teenage girls evince an intention of marrying him.

Osama has very successfully tapped on the rampant anger and frustration of Muslims worldwide at US' foreign policies in the Middle East especially with regard to the Palestinian issue and turn the war against him and Al-Qaeda into a war against Islam.

It must be noted that by all indications, and as long as the US has not achieved its war goals of eliminating Osama and defeating the Talibans, the US will be forced by the imperatives and logistics of the military campaign in Afghanistan to continue the bombing right through the holy month of Ramadan which will score even more points for Osama in his campaign to convert the United States' objectives against him and his network under the label of "terrorism" to that of a war against Islam.

The United States is therefore afraid that some paranoid extremists, believing in this line of thinking that this is some kind of a religious war or crusade waged by Christians against Muslim and being incensed by the United States' continuance of the military campaign during Ramadan, may respond by going over to US soil in the time running towards end of the year and seize Christmas on Dec 25 for a very dramatic retaliation! US authorities probably have some intelligence report in this regard on Osama's or the Taliban's intentions. Hence, the "temporary" restrictions on visas based on this "insensitive" criteria.

Next question: Why lump moderate Malaysia with Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, etc.?

While Malaysia is moderate, the United States is thinking that no chances should be taken to preclude the possibility. After all, it only takes a few religious extremists from here to execute a terrorist attack on US soil.

The United States cannot be seriously contended that there is no extremist here when even Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad himself had warned that militant groups were out to overthrow the government and that "the government will crack down on Islamic extremists because it does not want Malaysia's people to be oppressed like those in Afghanistan" ('Gov't to clamp down on Islamic militants', Nov 10). Or when a few churches were victims of arson widely suspected to be attributable to the isolated work of disgruntled extremists.

It will be further recalled that we did have a 3,500 strong anti-American demonstration organised by PAS (which on outbreak of the war supported the Taliban's call for jihad ) in front of the US embassy recently.

There is also strong disaffection against the US among some local Muslims including malaysiakini readers.

The 'Great Satan' is therefore not taking any chance on security especially at around Christmas. When self-protection and security are at stake, "sensitivity" will have to take the back seat. It is trite that diplomacy is an orphan neglected, and abandoned in a war. If we were in the 'Great Satan's shoes, would we have done less for our national security?

Politicians of this country should help elucidate the true issues and promote moderation and not exacerbate the situation by using the United State's moves for self-protection around Christmas for mileage to score political points among Muslim voters.