I caught a snippet of the radio news on Aug 30 reporting that the incoming prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said there is freedom of worship under the constitution and he called upon Malaysians of all faiths to remain unified.

The news in English said "worship". Article 11 of the Federal Constitution talks about freedom of religion.

I had just sent off an article to Insaf - the journal of the Malaysian Bar - on what I call freedom of religion impasse and powers of the High Court and I wondered if Pak Lah and I are referring to the same federal constitution?

I had mulled for over two years to send this article I first wrote in early 2001. There were and still are, too many hard questions. Revisions of the article do not make the problems disappear.