Is Malaysia on the road to Muslim orthodoxy, given the outcry in some quarters over incidents such as those involving dog trainer Maznah Mohd Yusof and Johor resort operator Syed Ahmed Alkaff?

Asked for a response to this at a press conference in Putrajaya today, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak replied: "It is not a question of being orthodox. There is some sensitivity within the people of Malaysia. It is not exclusive to Muslims - non-Muslims have their degree of sensitivity as well.

"It is important for us to understand the sensitivities of each community and do our utmost to respect the feelings of each community.”

Najib had earlier attended the Hari Raya open house held by the Prime Minister's Department.

Maznah courted controversy over a Hari Raya ‘greeting’ video she made involving her dogs, and has been investigated for sedition and causing disunity.

Meanwhile, Syed Ahmed has had his permanent resident status revoked and is being investigated for allegedly desecrating a place of worship after he was said to have allowed a group of Buddhists to use the Tanjung Sutera Resort’s surau for meditation on Aug 10 because other spaces had already been booked.

In the press conference, Najib also expressed concern over the excessive force used in the Egypt crisis and urged that a dialogue be held before it escalates into a civil war.

He said 35 Malaysian students there would be flown back via commercial flights at 5pm Egyptian time (11pm Malaysian time) today, and another 200 seats have been booked with three separate airlines for tomorrow.

“I don’t know how long this operation will take, but we will try to get as many seats as possible on commercial flights to bring our students back,” he said.

And for the third day in the row, Najib again dodged questions on Wanita Umno chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s new appointment as his special officer, this time about her job scope.

“Can we talk about this thing (about Egypt) and not other things?” he told reporters when asked about Shahrizat.