The inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama in the US is a great triumph of hope and unity over prejudice and fear. It reminds me of Sonia Gandhi's Congress Party victory over the religious extremist BJP-RSS nationalists in India some years ago.

Nevertheless it is pure fantasy to think that Barack Obama could become a PM in Malaysia. His father was a Kenyan Muslim, and his mother a white American. In America Barack Obama could choose whichever religion he wanted to follow. He could practice freedom of conscience.

But in Malaysia, if his father was Muslim then Barack Obama would automatically have been classified as a Muslim. Unfortunately if Barack Obama had later exercised his right to choose his own religion in Malaysia, he would have been tried for apostasy.

I have little doubt that our Jakim would have chucked him into a rehabilitation camp and stripped him of his basic human rights and freedoms. I imagine he would have been threatened with having his two children taken away from him regardless of their wishes.

I imagine Michelle Obama would have been threatened with losing custody of the kids too if she did not convert to Islam. I don't think my fears are too farfetched as we have all seen how Subashini and her child have been treated.

The other reason Barack Obama could not become a PM in Malaysia is because he is not a Malay -Muslim. It is unlikely that he would have been granted permanent residence (PR) status in Malaysia never mind citizenship. And he can definitely forget about a government scholarship.

Like Vijay Singh - the golfing great - he would have had his Malaysian PR application rejected as a religious/racial minority, and would have to emigrate to USA.

I would like PAS to meditate on this state of affairs - there is no way any OIC country can compete with America or Europe in terms of scientific, social, political and economic progress

because they have freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of choice, freedom of religion and they have a system of government that supports liberty, equality, and solidarity for all their citizens.

In America Barack Obama and Vijay Singh were welcomed for their contributions, their capabilities, and their virtues. In America it is against the law to discriminate against minorities.

In America they do not punish you for your religious beliefs but only for your deeds and only if you break the law.

I won't even bother asking Umno to meditate on this state of affairs as they rely on race and religious discrimination to hide their money-grabbing thieving activities. In fact Umno won't even admit that its multi-billion ringgit money politics is a form of corruption.

Since I am convinced that PAS, PKR and DAP will win the next general election, I will therefore ask PAS to discuss seriously what they think about Obama's inauguration as president of the US.

As no Arab or OIC country has even come close to dealing with the multiple complex challenges of modernity - managing a modern state effectively and efficiently - it is imperative that PAS declare what type of Islamic theocratic state they want for Malaysia.

Quite frankly, it is the Christian and/or secular humanist western model of government that treats their citizens the best, and dare I say it, comes the closest to achieving the Islamic ideals of nation -building.

As for PAS Youth protesting against Rihanna's concert, I am saddened by their lack of tolerance and tunnel vision although I don't blame their focus as it must be hard to get visions of her gorgeous, suntanned, gyrating body in those luscious music TV videos out of their testosterone- driven minds.

Are they blind to the murderous atrocities in Darfur? Are they blind to the wholesale Marcos- style corruption in Umno? Are they not concerned with the hundreds of Bahai believers who have been tortured and killed in Iran? Are they not at all concerned with racial and religious discrimination against ethnic minorities in apartheid Malaysia?

If PAS is not careful to repair it's vision problem, it might even appear to have double standards, and for most people, that is as good as hypocrisy.

In my humble non-Muslim opinion, I think Rihanna can do whatever she wants to do as long as she does not commit murder or theft which is a lot more than what I can say about politicians in backwards Third World racist dictatorships.

She can do whatever she likes with her body, dress however she wants, and it is her choice, and I don't have to like it and I don't have to buy a ticket if I don't want to see her. Unlike PAS Youth, I do not regard Rihanna as a threat to my agama or bangsa or spiritual well-being or to anything at all.

I can understand if Rihanna is a much easier and convenient target for the purposes of trouble -free demonisation seeing that there are very few white people voting in Malaysia, and truly I do understand if PAS needs simple, mythical, foreign enemies for the purpose of winning religious votes easily.

But seriously, over time, thinking educated Malaysians will almost certainly get fed-up with such childish antics from PAS.

Whether you are Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu, Taoist, Buddhist, animist, atheist or whatever, the key test for whether anything is right or divinely inspired must be whether it moves us to act in love and compassion.

I believe PAS should be careful not to dismiss the virtues of tolerance, compassion and permissiveness in it's Rihanna-demonizing-brand-building-exercises as it is exactly the theology of intolerance, hate, ignorance and fear that has destroyed the Arab societies in the Middle East.

I am very sorry to say this but this is precisely why you will never get a Barack Obama phenomenon emerging in an OIC country. Stop religious, racial demonisation now.