What is even more curious is that when Umno corruption is discussed some Christians get impatient: "Aiya, why are you so negative? Why can't you see the good that the government has done?"

But mention the magic word "PAS" and instantly, they become a well-spring of eloquence on the "dangers" of an Islamic state and the "barbarities" of syariah law. Why do sincere, devout Christians have this knee-jerk fear of Islam when its strict moral codes are really not that much different from those of Orthodox Judaism? Are we so deeply influenced by the Western media that we subconsciously believe Christians should be pro-Western and pro-Israel but anti-Islam in bias?

The world-view of PAS may be different, but at least they are serious about their religion. Do we prefer to deal with serious worshipers of Allah the Almighty or do we prefer serious worshipers of Mammon and the Almighty Ringgit? If we ourselves do not want lukewarm Christians, why do we seem to prefer corrupt lukewarm Muslims? Or are we, in actual fact, more worldly than Christian?

Is it un-Christian if the BA (the Barisan Alternatif which includes secular parties like DAP, KeADILan and PRM) wants to restore local council elections? So that the next time the municipal council wants to approve a condo project in your housing estate's playing field, they might think twice for fear of losing their elected seats?

Is it un-Christian if the BA wants to curb sexy advertisements, GRO-laden girlie bars, Ecstasy pill-popping discos and gambling (which has destroyed many families)? Or are we more Babylon-ish than we care to admit when we subconsciously want these "freedoms" to continue? Is it un-Christian when the BA wants to revamp the Sedition Act so that people like Lim Guan Eng do not get jailed after speaking up for 15 year-old rape victims?

At least the opposition has laid down very concrete proposals on how to clean up the country. In any intelligent country, we'd be debating these proposals instead of having "he has a headache" advertisements shoved down our throats everyday. Then of course there was Norhayati Md Yusof, now 20 years old, who suddenly "woke up" and realised after five years that she had not been raped by the former Malacca Chief Minister.

Congratulations to the mainstream media, for it has managed to brainwash us into thinking that thiselection is all about an Islamic state!

To be sure, there will be some policies of PAS which Christians will not agree with. It is time for serious dialogue and engagement rather than just burying our heads ostrich-like with a cop-out phrase such as "aiya, this is just a Malay issue-lah. Just let me watch my six o'clock Cantonese serial-lah".

Just for the record, when PAS came to power in Kelantan, it passed quite a few non-Muslim applications for worship sites which had been stymied by the previous Umno state government - including two huge statues of the Sitting Buddha and the Standing Buddha. And now the new Terengganu state government has allowed pigs to be bred in the state - something previously banned by Umno.

As for hard-headed political analysis, we have to recognise that increasing Muslim revivalism is a sure fact. Even Umno will be forced to adopt a more Islamic facade (say, by building the world's biggest mosque and banning pig farming in Negeri Sembilan) while it remains corrupt inside.

Now is the time, when the future is being shaped, to begin negotiating. To start building bridges as junior partners rather than as rank outsiders three elections later. Hey, after all, Indonesia now has an ulama President - something unthinkable just two years ago.

Yes, there have been past grievances. Christians have been discriminated against (note: by Umno) on the question of church sites and burial grounds. And there is still the whole sore area of special rights and quotas for Mahathirputras, Umnoputras and, lastly, ordinary bumiputras (which includes Christian Kadazans and Ibans).

Many Muslims have supported policies which have been less than fair. But now, due to the shock of the Anwar Ibrahim affair, the scales have dropped from their eyes and there has been a mass awakening to the gross injustices in the system.