COMMENT | What would you do, if the light at the end of the tunnel was nothing more than the headlight of an oncoming train? This must be what many Malay politicians and the ulamas are thinking, because they stupidly used religion in politics, to get more votes. Today, Malaysia is a mess!

The race and religious baiting started in earnest, during the first tenure of Dr Mahathir Mohamad (1981-2003).

The Iranian Revolution swept across Iran at the end of the 1970s. PAS gained strength on this tide of Islamic resurgence.

Fearful of the rising influence of PAS on the Malays, Mahathir competed for their affections by making Malaysia more Islamic. His agent for an Islamic revival was Anwar Ibrahim, whom he plucked from Abim. We saw the new dress code, the ban on the use of certain words by non-Muslims, a meteoric rise of Jakim and the dumbing-down of English in schools during this period.

So, when the former cabinet minister known as the Iron Lady, Rafidah Aziz, told FMT in an exclusive interview that she "feared" for Malaysia's future, because religion was used as a political tool, it precipitated three types of responses.

First. Why did it take her 40 years to express what many of us had been saying for...