I refer to the letter by Home Boy ('EPF should look at fundamentals, not fundamentalists,' Dec 7), and would like to stress that I do not miss the whole point.

As in the letter, it is true that "performing well over the years, leaders in their respective industry sectors, have good corporate governance, have paid good dividends consistently to their shareholders and possess sound management policies ... qualities investors are looking for".

But we must remember, for a Muslim investor, there is an additional quality that he or she must look into, which is that the business of the company that he or she wants to invest in is not against Islamic teachings.

This extra quality exists because every Muslim knows that they will be questioned by Allah on their money - where it was spent and how did they earn it.

That is why we have a list of companies on the KLSE which are halal for Muslims to invest in. And I believe that other religions too have a similar concept - it could either be based on religious grounds or moral grounds.

By the way, the drug business is offering a much higher return and the drug cartels' managements are very efficient. But the business is against the law.

By employing his (Home Boy's) logic, it seems that EPF should invest in such business although it may be illegal.

As mentioned in the letter, the EPF's investment policy is "risk diversification and to provide for a reasonable rate of return in the long run".

Thus, EPF's withdrawal of investments in gambling and alcohol companies is in accordance with its investment policy as it has to look after the interest of its investors, including its Muslims investors.

I agree with Home Boy that "the practitioners of any religion should not enforce their religious beliefs or practices on, or have the right to determine" how investors retirement savings are going to be invested.

But we must not miss the point that investing to such companies is an "encroachment to the individual rights" of Muslims investors.

And as an EPF investor myself, I too, when I "withdraw my hard-earned savings, would expect that the EPF had done its best to secure the best return that it could get on the investment", but as a Muslim, I want to see that the money I withdraw is not coming from haram sources.

.And some non-Muslims too, would want their investments to be based on the moral grounds as mentioned by other letter-writers in this column.

So we can see that the withdrawal call is based on common ground shared by Muslims and some non-Muslims.

I would like to advise Home Boy and those who share the same idea, to mix more with his Muslim friends and try to understand their beliefs. This way we can be more compromising with each other.