Dear editor,

I have read the article from Farish Noor entitle "'Moderate' Islamisation? Forget it". It is clear that Farish Noor's article is clearly condeming the idea of LEGISLATING MORALITY especially in the name of religion.

Never mind the SPECULATIVE attacks on PAS and some of PAS'es policies. My main bone of contentions is that how Farish Noor's OVERZEALOUSNESS on the Liberal doctrine of non legislation of morality. His main reservation with PAS is that PAS does not subscribe to this WESTERN LIBERAL IDEA and choose to adopt Islam instead.

I wonder how Farish Noor INTERPRETS Islam, but what is clear to me that to him Western Liberalism SUPERSEEDS ISLAM. And he does it by closing his mind towards arguments from the Islamic perspective.

On PAS'es effort in Terengganu to implement Islam, Farish may have deliberately forgotten that there are other aspect of Islam that is being implemented and not just morality i.e. the HISBAH comission for clean and good governance, the intrduction of ISLAMIC VALUES in public services, the emphasis on family values etc.

To Farish, efforts towards curbing moral ills is seen as a step backwards. He sees this because his mind is set by the Western Liberalism mindset. What he does not realise that the effect of western liberalism in the west is doing just that, bringing the western soceity backwards. I mean, you don't find six year olds in Afghanistan shooting their friends in cold blood, but you find such incident in Colorado, USA. Yet there are more guns in Afghanistan than the USA. So, Farish'es defence of the Western values is baseless as the reality proves otherwise.

Farish is still living in a dream world whereby LIBERALISM is the KEY TO HAPPINESS and HARMONY. I bet his favourite sci-fi is Star Trek. Farish is still in Woodstock whereby the rest of the world is beginning to realise how Woodstock is meaningless to us.

Lastly, Farish has nothing to worry about when it comes to eating in restaurants and there has never been any raids in restaurants in Malaysia. What JAIS had raided is the BAR on top of the SHIP restaurant in Damansara Utama. Maybe Farish needs to get his facts straight before making any comments.

Abdul Rahman Abdul Talib.
(a.k.a. Ariani Rustam's cousin)