I too, like SM Leong am terribly impressed with Dr Farish Noor's insight and objectivity in many issues. His reply ('No options in sight', Nov 7) to Leong's query is spot on with regard to the current political situation in Malaysia.

I can only add that humans are basically evil in nature. No book or law, divine or earthly can keep the human heart (cleric or layperson) clean. Outwardly, acts of piety are easy to counterfeit, but what the heart feels and the mind thinks may not necessarily be holy.

Therefore when the lawkeepers use religion to keep peace and administer justice, it is not the religion that is faulty, but the human heart. Evil will bleed through the judgment and the unjust sentence will sadly be in the name of God. This is the predicament in many Islamic states as observed in the Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

It is therefore not necessarily the fault of the colonial masters as Farish alluded to, but of the human heart. The human race, left on its own, will easily tend towards anarchy. This is tragic. Is there a solution? Yes, but this is not the forum nor is there space to discuss this.