Please allow me to comment on Khoo Kay Peng's suggestion that the government needs to consult the public on the sensational topic of religion in national schools. 

It has been clearly shown that private education is a big business in this country where more than 25 percent of the population are Chinese. The consolation, perhaps, is that these independent Chinese schools have very high standards and even Malay and Indian parents send their children there to study.

Having said that, we cannot deny that Malay parents have also sent their children to missionary schools all over the country. These students even learnt about Christianity and maybe even joined in the morning prayers in their own way. But I believe there have been no cases of Muslim students being converted to Christianity, Buddhism or Hinduism.

With regards to national education policies, I strongly believe that what our prime minister is doing is to try and change the mentality of the people to accept the evolving cultural changes in our own society so that one day in the future, Malaysians will not be identified as Chinese, Malay or Indian or ‘others’.

Come on, give Pak Lah a break and let him do his job as our fifth prime minister. If anyone wishes to challenge Pak Lah, wait for the next round of elections in 2009 and try then to unseat him.

There is no use putting pressure on Pak Lah in claiming that everything the Barisan Nasional government does is wrong and subject to public scrutiny in and out of Parliament. Opposition members, except for a handful, seem incapable arguing simple issues with facts and political intelligence.

Which brings me to the issue of the national service as highlighted in a negative way by the DAP recently. I wonder whether the outcry over the issue reflected the sentiments of the public or the DAP? 

Correct me if I am wrong, but there have been so many praises from parents whose kids had attended the national service programme. They may or may not have become better children overnight but the true results of the programme will be seen over the next few decades and not immediately.

The programme, after all, aims to create a new identity for a modern and progressive Malaysia without the race barriers.

I strongly support Pak Lah's vision of Islam Hadhari as widely qualified in the latest book Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - Revivalist of an intellectual tradition authored by Syed Ali Taufik Al-Attas and Ng Tieh Chuan.

This is a now cultural revolution to change our mindset towards creating a better Malaysia. Please wake up my fellow Malaysians - don't politicise everything, big or small.

There is a Confucian saying: ‘If it's very painful for you to criticise your friends, then you are safe in doing it. But if you take the slightest pleasure in it, then it is time to hold your tongue’.