I appreciate the letter writers' concern in Hudud impractical in multiculturalism and Hudud bodes ill for Malaysia's future about hudud law.

However, sweeping such a matter under the carpet or hoping that it will go away is not going to solve anything. As long as there are Muslims in Malaysia, the call to implement Islamic laws will remain.

Even in Afghanistan, the fall of the Taliban has not changed the religious fervour there significantly. The newly installed government of Afghanistan has recently banned all Bollywood songs and movies.

What one needs is to understand and meet each other's expectations half-way. If non-Muslims who find the early morning call to prayer disruptive to sleep, as suggested by R Sharif, they should lodge complaints with MCA or MIC and bring up the matter in the state exco meeting or even Parliament.

I also agree with Brian that restrictions placed on Muslims may also affect non-Muslims. An example was the religious department Jais' raid on a bar mainly patronised by non-Muslims in Selangor where several Muslim guest relation officers or GROs were arrested. The Selangor Menteri Besar later ordered Jais to release the GROs to allay non-Muslims' fears.

This, however, was not a good 'meet- halfway' example as many conservative Muslims felt that the Malaysian government compromised on the Muslims' rights in favour of non-Muslims. The way to allay non-Muslims' fears should not be at the expense of Islamic law. The right way is to divide the constitution into two, clearly and separately defining the rights and responsibilities of non-Muslims and Muslims.

We must be fair and even-handed. Just like how one cannot view the Middle-East crisis in terms of the right of the Israelis to be free from terrorism without addressing the right of the Palestinians to be free from occupation and settlements.