In carrying the article entitled 'Hadi: It is haram to help US' in The Star (Dec 31, 2001), I find it doing the same amount of disservice to the country as did The Sun's 'coup' on the plot against the prime minister and the deputy prime minister.

Whether or not the bombing carried out in Afghanistan is bad, cruel, or an act committed by one against his or her enemy, it is for the purported victim to decide and to state who the real enemy is. The victim in this instance is the people of Afghanistan.

From what I can see so far it would seem to me that for the ordinary people and children of Afghanistan, the bombing has brought about the liberation of their lives and their country. I see celebration of livesand I see a new will to live. I see a welcome for the liberating forces of the United States.

The victims — the ordinary citizens of Afghanistan — are Muslims...but who were their enemies? It was none other than their fellow Muslims!

They needed liberation and this could have been led by people like Hadi Awang who seems to be so concerned about his fellow Muslims in trouble. Yet ignoring the facts, he would want us to believe what he was saying.

His call and his backing it with edicts of Muslim clerics and labeling the US cause in not so very nice terms only goes to put Islam in a light that is not complimentary. Hadi is indeed doing Islam a disservice in trying to get his listeners to believe in what he is trying to suggest.

Indeed, it is now more right than ever that DAP disassociated itself from Barisan Alternatif which had as its pivotal member PAS, where it would seem impossible for anyone to fully understand the issues and the happenings in Afghanistan.