PAS' clarification that upon winning Pahang that the political party will only close down the casino and not the resort at Genting Highlands is no great consolation.

This as well as other proclamations of theirs vis-a-vis the non-Muslim population whom they aspire so much to rule over carry with it an assumption that they appear to be harbouring. Maybe in Islam there may be the presumption, if not the authority even, that whosoever claims to be pious and has religious knowledge, if not a religious authority, has indeed the power to, in the name of Islam, infringe upon the right to choose, of their flock. If that were indeed so and followers of the faith have chosen to encumber their free will accordingly, so be it.

However, being a non-Muslim (no doubt living in a Muslim country) for whom free will is everything, encumbering that free will is a proposition that one might even argue as being against his or her own 'religion'. As much as I do not wish to encumber or subordinate my free will, I cannot, in God's name, issue an edict encumbering another's free will.

I do not care for the casino in Genting Highlands or for that matter a number of other places that PAS might consider unholy. Yet I find it objectionable when my right to choose is infringed upon and when the application of my free will is compromised.

For those who choose to go to Genting Highlands, it is they who compromise not only themselves but also their loved ones and essentially it is their right. Especially where gambling is an acceptable part of those patronising the casinos, I find shutting down casinos because of one's religious convictions that are not the others' would indeed be an infringement. If that is tolerated then obviously there is no stopping what else the zealots in PAS would consider their right to infringe.

On the other hand if there can be a secular economic reason that may justify the closure of the casino and it is not the application of ones' religious convictions thrust upon another who does not subscribe to the same beliefs, I cannot see anyone objecting to it.

Maybe if PAS can resolve the issue of smoking first before it attends to infringe on other people's right to choose; maybe then their position can be better understood. After all I am a non-smoker and try to stay away from smoke as much as I can.

Yet smokers have throughout the world not respected my right to choose not to smoke and compromise the air and space that I breathe and live in. Unlike gamblers who go up to Genting, which does not compromise me in any way, smokers do. They infringe upon my free will having freely chosen to smoke. Yet because they feel they have the right to smoke they invade my space without even caring to ask my permission. What is worse, they poison the air that I breathe despite my having chosen not to smoke.

I would like to throw this challenge to PAS. Resolve for me my dilemma and then go shut down the casino in Genting. If you cannot do this, then please let me have the respect for Islam that it rightly deserves then to have it distorted by your twisted interpretation of your role in it.