I have been following in the media the case of the prosecution of followers of Ayah Pin. As a non-Muslim, I would like to express how I feel about the whole exercise.

I feel appalled by the way the accused were refused bail and held in jail even before they were charged. For goodness sake, what risk could these defenceless and shamed men and women pose to the Terengganu public before their trial?

The authorities did not seem to show any concern for the children left abandoned in the commune. If all this has been done in the name of Islam and protecting its followers, it does not help me to appreciate better how Islam is a compassionate and just religion.

The Islamic authority and the Muslim community should be aware that the way these people - dubbed as 'deviants' - were treated sends a wrong signal to the whole country as well as to the world as to what Islam is really all about.