Now this is the sort of article that is not meant to offend anyone, but is bound to end up annoying most if not all. For that I apologise from the beginning and this piece should come with a health warning that reads: "Not for the literal-minded or bigoted".

I have to confess that after reading the letters that have been sent to malaysiakini and the rest of the mainstream Mahafiraun media over the past two weeks, my own faith in the sensibility and maturity of the Malaysian public has been considerably shaken somewhat. Much of this has been due to the furore that followed in the wake of the arrest (and later release) of a number of Malay-Muslims (mostly women) by the Selangor religious authorities (Jais) earlier in June.

I will not go into the details of the matter. Suffice to say that all of those who took part in this exercise of moral policing are to blame. The Jais footsoldiers who detained these women on the grounds that they were "insulting Islam" ought to be censured for their own self-righteousness and zeal. Umno and the ruling parties of the BN coalition ought to be blamed as well for their own part in trying to out-Islamise PAS and to up the stakes in the Islamisation race in the country.

For me the only ones who are free from blame were those who happened to be in the restaurant at the time, and whose "crime" (re: sin) was nothing more than sitting in a poorly-lit environment paying large sums of money for their meals. If they paid extra to be entertained by transvestites, then I can only feel even more pity and remorse for them.

The most depressing thing about this whole episode was the way that the Malaysian public reacted to it. Looking at the letters that were sent to the press, one gets a snapshot of a cross-section of Malaysian society and what it thinks. The picture is not all that rosy.

For a start there were the Malay-Muslims who were apologetic about the action taken by Jais and the government. There were those who claimed that these people were indeed "insulting" Islam by being in such a place and doing what they did. Then there were those non-Malays and non-Muslims who claimed that the whole thing was exaggerated by Mahafiraun press and its evil minions; and that the matter should be left to the Malay-Muslims alone.

Non-Muslims, they insisted, should not interfere in things that are not their concern or their business. I beg to differ with all of these views and I would like to make my own stand on the matter.

Firstly, a word to my fellow Malay-Muslims. Let us, for once, get to the heart of the matter. The erosion of moral values and the breakdown of Muslim society today is not simply due to transvestites singing karaoke or couples sipping Coca-Cola laced with Bacardi in restaurants.

The erosion of moral values that is taking place in Malaysia, as in the rest of the Muslim world, has more to do with the way in which Muslim societies have been taken over by market-oriented cultural and economic practices that have commodified social relations and turned practically every aspect of their societies into marketable goods.

As a result, everything from healthcare to education, defence to the media, have been reduced to commodities that can be bought and sold and valued according to market prices. In such an environment, there is simply no room for moral values, ethics or spirituality to develop.

The ones at fault here are the Muslim elite themselves, and this includes our own governments and leaders. (For heavens sake, even in Mecca today there are shops selling Gucci handbags and Rolex watches right outside the Masjid'ul Haram - who do we blame for this?).

To persecute a number of working women (and men dressed up as women) is a classic case of persecuting the weak while the powerful get away scot-free. It also happens to be a typical example of how Muslim governments, under pressure from their own Islamist opposition at home, try to bolster their own Islamic credentials by launching ostensibly Islamic campaigns to promote Muslim interests in the country. Surely the Malay-Muslims in Malaysia can see this by now?

During the 1970s, the Umno-led government attempted to boost its Islamic credentials in similarly spectacular ways. While it was facing the challenge of a rejuvenated PAS led by Muhammad Asri Muda, the Umno-led government promoted a number of Islamic projects and programmes such as the dakwah (missionary) campaigns that helped to converts tens of thousands of non-Muslim bumiputeras to Islam.

A lot of people fell for this and began to parrot the litany of Umno as the champion of "Muslim concerns", etc. But then, as now, the fundamental issues - economics, politics and development - were left unaddressed.

As a result of this incessant contest between Umno and PAS to out-Islamise each other, we are now witnessing the steady encroachment of a particularly rigid and bureaucratic form of Islam in the country. Already Malay-Muslims have to go through a gamut of bureaucratic hurdles in order to do even the most basic of things, like getting married. We have to sit for "marriage classes" so that - like retarded morons - we can be taught how to talk to each other, how to smile to each other and how to eat together respectfully.

(My own "marriage class" was a pathetic affair which lasted three days and all I learnt was the benefit of strawberry-flavoured condoms. The Ustaz also compared making love to playing football in such a ridiculous way that I now understand how the Malaysian football team could lose to Laos 6-0).

After all these so-called Islamic reform programmes and Islamisation measures, are we any closer to creating an Islamic society? We may be wearing more tudungs and sport more jangguts, but do we, as modern Malay-Muslims, have better manners, drive safer, pollute less and consume in a more discriminate manner? Are we more immune to the evils of consumerism, corruption, money politics, or neo-feudal cults of leadership? Have we overcome our baser instincts which manifest themselves in the form of racism and prejudice? I think not.

The only thing we have done is to open the way for a top-heavy religious bureaucracy that is staffed by those who cannot get decent employment elsewhere. There is no reason why the work done by these religious bodies and authorities cannot be done by other non-religious (re. secular) bodies that serve the Malaysian public as a whole. Senior citizens, homeless folk, abandoned orphans and beggars can be taken care of by aid workers of the state who need not come from the same religious or cultural background.

Frankly, if I needed financial or medical aid at any time, I don't care who gives it to me as long as it is done impartially and with sincerity. An injection feels the same whether it is given by a Muslim or non-Muslim. (Of course there might be the odd religious bigot who says: "Ah, but if a non-Muslim gives you an injection, what makes you think the needle is halal?").

Now I would like to address the non-Muslims who have, over the past few weeks, come to the defence of the pharisees of the state. Reading letters and comments like "This is a Muslim matter. Leave it to them and let's not get involved" really makes me wonder how close (or far) we are to the goal of nation-building.

There are times when I wonder if we even live in the same country. To claim that whatever happens in the Muslim community is a "Malay" issue that that it does not concern anyone else would be the peak of indifference and neglect dressed up as respect for cultural diversity.

The fact is that Islam - and all other religions for that matter - is too important to be left to one ethnic constituency alone. Let me put the point across in another way. Let us suppose that in Malaysia today there happens to be a Hindu party or a Buddhist party. (Why not? There is already an Islamic party).

Now let us suppose that the leaders of this fictional Hindu party then begin to tell members of the Hindu community that they cannot do this or that; that they cannot eat or drink with non-Hindus because the rest are "unclean" or that they can be spiritually contaminated somehow.

Now let us suppose that the members of this fictional religious party then begin to raid restaurants, offices or homes to root out those "deviant", "hypocritical", "secular" Hindus who have strayed off the right path and to bring them back to their interpretation of Hinduism. How should the rest of us non-Hindus react to such a situation?

I for one would be appalled if such practices were taking place in the country. To me it would be a clear sign of a group of zealots trying to manipulate the universal discourse of Hinduism (or Buddhism, Christianity, etc.) and turn it into a sectarian, exclusivist creed instead.

The long-term effects, as far as inter-religious and inter-communal relations are concerned, would be catastrophic as well. Do I have a right to express my disagreement here? Do I have a right to defend my "liberal" Hindu friends who want to maintain their open, pluralistic lifestyle which is cognizant of the realities of Malaysia today? I think so.

So on the same terms, why can't non-Muslims in Malaysia understand that some of us Malay-Muslims prefer to think for ourselves and live out our religious lives on our own terms rather than be directed by others? I go to the mosque and pray because I want to, not because some ulama or religious official tells me that God is going to fry me in hell if I don't.

I want to live out my married life on my own terms, without some well-meaning but clueless Imam telling me that my sex life can be compared to a game of football. And for whatever mistakes I may make, I am prepared to face the consequences both here and in the hereafter without them intervening on my behalf, supposedly "for my own good". As a rational, believing Muslim, I choose to act according to my own rational agency and free will, thank you.

Now all that I have said so far is of course loaded and biased on my own terms. There will invariably be those who will condemn me for being "too liberal" a Muslim or too open to other cultures, religions and lifestyles. This, to an extent, I do admit. But I also urge my critics to look around them and recognise the fact that they live in a multiracial, multi-religious and multicultural Malaysia where there is much more to be gained by opening our minds and hearts than by keeping them shut.

Through such inter-cultural contact there are bound to be moments of friction, difficulty and uncertainty. (Ironically, the transvestites who were arrested by Jais seem to embody the perilous ambiguity of multiculturalism itself). Nobody said that living in a multicultural society was going to be easy.

But it must be remembered that such ambiguity and uncertainty are also potentially productive and fruitful: they force us to question some of the most basic and fundamental understandings about ourselves, our identities and who we are. Contact with other religious communities and cultures force us to be more open, supple and accommodating of difference and alterity. In time we learn to negotiate the differences between us.

If, in the process, some old habits and prejudices get thrown away, then that would be even better. As the contemporary Sudanese Muslim thinker Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im puts it in his book Towards an Islamic Reformation: "The toleration of unorthodoxy and dissent is vital for the spiritual and intellectual benefit of Islam itself."

To that I can only add, "Alhamdulillah!"