Anees Ahmad
(in response to “Time running out for 'deviationist' sect”)

Malaysia has stood, even before its independence in 1957, as a beacon of fairness and equality.

It was the great Tunku Abdul Rahman who, like the late Muhammad Ali Jinnah of Pakistan, won his nation's independence from within the very confines of the law that had usurped his people's rights.

Much like Jinnah, the Tunku crafted a secular state, granting a sweeping protection of religious freedom.

As a Pakistani Ahmadi Muslim therefore, I was extremely upset to learn that, as with Pakistan, the people of Malaysia had betrayed the wishes of their founding father.

I speak of your ulama's recent demands to strip an Ahmadi Muslim mosque of the Kalima, or fundamental Islamic creed. Contrary to the ulama's stance, Ahmadi Muslims have, since arriving in Malaysia decades ago, proved to be a progressive and inclusive component of the Malaysian community.

Hindsight truly is 20/20. Pakistan has for some time pandered to the extremists' wishes in the hopes of avoiding civil unrest.

If Malaysia, both its government and its citizens, does not check their behavior, I fear it will meet the same fate that Pakistan already has.