I wish to comment on the letter entitled 'It's Islam, not Umno, that bars interreligious marriages'. This is absolute nonsense.

Islam does not bar interreligious marriages of any kind. You are free to marry whom you please. Of course, if either husband or wife is a Muslim, it is his or her duty to ensure that the children are raised as Muslims.

But the non-Muslim spouse can keep their non-Muslim status. In Malaysia, however, they cannot. But the truth is that the forced conversion of the spouse is on paper only. Most non-Muslim spouses don't go to the mosque or wear the tudung etc. So I don't understand what the big fuss is all about.

There seems to be a growing campaign to champion the rights of non-Muslims to not convert to Islam and the right of Muslims to renegade on their faith and declare their apostasy in public.

I feel this a shameful campaign because it is done with the intention of weakening the Islamic 'ummah' (society). At a time when Muslims worldwide are being persecuted, Muslims need encouragement instead of being taken to task for their beliefs.

Do also allow me to state my disagreement with the letter 'Islamists must cease finding scapegoats in the past'. The notion that Muslims are in desperate times due to their own making is untrue.

Our calamities are the direct result of interference by non-Muslim imperialist powers. The writer is right in quoting China's success in the world and comparing it with the failure of Muslim countries.

Since the collapse of the last Islamic empire (the Ottoman Empire), the Islamic world has fragmented into 40 different countries with the same combined population of China - which is ruled by a single government.

Anyone who has studied economics in school will understand the theory of 'economies of scale'. Why then did the West oppose Saddam Hussein's annexation of Kuwait (which was to be followed by Saudi Arabia, Jordan etc.) if not to prevent Muslims from enjoying 'economies of scale' like China and the the US do?

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Jordan are all fragmented states created by non-Muslims and they have neither democratic nor legitimate governments.

The question is - are Muslims divided and weak because of their own choice? The answer is clearly 'no'. My reply to the writer is that Muslims are not looking for scapegoats or conspiracies to explain our failings.

Our enemies are real. We know them and their crimes.