I read with interest MA's Religion as weapon is dangerous which is an intelligent, knowledgeable and morally upright condemnation of Umno Youths misuse and abuse of Islam in smearing ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim for going on a hunger strike.

Umno Youths line of attack on Anwar is not new or novel. The party is infamous for its name-calling and smears. Prior to the 1999 general election, the Umno and Barisan Nasional secretary-general as well as the then Information Minister Mohammad Rahmat (Tok Mat) 'accused' Anwar Ibrahim's wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, of being a Cap Naga (dragon brand), which implies that she is a Chinese.

To be sure, most of us have not forgotten how Anwar was smeared in a propaganda blitzkrieg in 1998 and 1999 as an 'Islamic fundamentalist' and 'Western agent' simultaneously in media of different languages. Many were fooled and duped.

With their mentality, mindset, worldview and collective psychology unchanged, Umno and Umno Youth are merely Nazifying 'Islam' that abuses and misuses the religion to attempt to whip up fascist sentiments of what they see as credulous and malleable mob against all opponents and challengers, real, perceived or merely imaginary, to the Umno regime.

Looking back further, we can certainly see that the list of the perceived threats to Umno's political dominance and ideology is long. At some time in the partys history, it has included the United States, Australia, the West, IMF, World Bank, Singapore, Chinese educationists, PAS, Keadilan, DAP, vocal lawyers, environmentalists, human rights activists, John Howard (Australian premier) and John R Malott (former US ambassador to Malaysia), et al. It is as if the whole world is wrong, and owes it something as its 'birthright'.

Seen from a psychological perspective, the grandiloquent ideology of Umno under Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is nothing but a mixture of the delusions of grandeur and persecution. It is a mark of identity confusion, and the existence of a great gap between inflated self-worth rooted in the feudal and pre-modern pasts, and real and actual capability in the modern world.