I refer to the Malaysiakini report Zulkifli: We must strengthen Islam .

Listening to Zulkifli Nordin’s latest speech was like listening to the Taliban talking about the evils of Western culture and the need to spread the Taliban’s version of Islam. It was totally shocking to hear someone from Pakatan Rakyat with such vocal views of Islam.

Zulkifli Nordin, non-Muslims are not challenging the position of Islam or the Malays/ bumiputera. A quick rebuttal of some of the issues raised by your goodself is as follows:

(i) Forum organised by Bar Council – This is about justice for the families affected by relatives/ spouses who have converted to Islam - not about the right to convert to Islam.

Justice and compassion are the pillars of all great religions and having the bodies of recently deceased loved ones taken or been told that surviving dependents are not entitled to the deceased’s estate because they are of a different religion is not justice or compassion by any standard.

(ii) Road signage in Jawi /Arabic – This is about using commonsense. Road signs are meant to serve a specific purpose. Certain shopping complexes (KLCC, Pavilion) have signs in Jawi/ Arabic as they have many tourists from the Middle East.

However, having road signage in Jawi /Arabic in areas where the majority of the population are not Muslim or don’t understand Jawi is a waste of money. Having road signs in Bahasa Malaysia (with a small version in English at the bottom) at the majority of areas is sufficient.

It is not advisable to have road signs in Chinese or Tamil as Bahasa Malaysia is the national language and English is the international language.

(iii) Azan issue – This is not about challenging the practices of Islam but to ask the mosque officials to show some discretion and perhaps even some understanding.

(iv) Separate justice system – This proposal is perhaps the most shocking of all and will mean that Malaysia will officially become an Islamic state. That is to say that if the perpetrator of a crime and the victims are Muslim, they should be tried in the Syariah court.

This will mean that potentially, for many criminal acts, the punishment and burden of proof could be very different. Does he even know his law?

If Zulkifli Nordin maintains that he is first and foremost a Muslim, we cannot not fault him for holding true to his religious beliefs and principles. However, Zulkifli Nordin was elected on the PR platform which promised to defend the rights of all Malaysians and not to champion the Islamic cause.

Hence, it is to the benefit of all parties that Zulkifli Nordin resign from PR. As an independent or even Umno MP, Zulkifli Nordin is free to talk as he likes.

As Anwar Ibrahim needs at least 30 BN MPs to take over the federal government, needing an extra one MP will not make any difference.

However, if Zulkifli Nordin remains in PR and makes such controversial statements, Zulkifli Nordin is the musuh dalam selimut in PR. He is a liability and will spark the beginning of the end for PR.