In response to the letter written by Farish A Noor ('No options in sight', Nov 7), I would like to give you some of my comments on the issues that the writer touched.

1) In an obvious reference to PAS, Farish said and I quote: "....Some of the leaders of the Islamist party then called for the girl in question to be detained under the ISA and argued that the ISA should be used...."

Here I see some form of deliberate misconstruing of the actual stand taken by PAS on the ISA. Not too distant in the past, PAS was actually behind the formation of an anti-ISA front known as Gerak in which the launching of the movement was done at a time when the ISA was used to it's maximum. Currently, another anti-ISA movement called GMI is chaired by PAS president Fadzil Noor.

I just cannot see how a certain PAS leader's statement can be representative of the whole PAS organisation. Furthermore, the actual statement was actually taken out of context in my opinion. Anyone who read the statements could see this.

Therefore the so call U-turn that Farish had expressed seems to be non-existent.

2) The reference to the Iranian ulama or leaders is also funny in my opinion. This is because the current reform movement in Iran is actually led by an ulama. And in the face of such resistance, the Iranian ulama government does not deploy oppressive tactics like the ones deployed by the Malaysian government.

Considering that Iran is ruled by a predominantly Shia group of clerics, they certainly do not represent the whole sphere of the Islamic movement in the Muslim world.

The Shia believe that their clerics are above the law and that they command a certain degree of infallibility due to their ability to receive revelations from God directly.

Farish never should have resorted to examples that is unrepresentative of the entire Islamic movements in the world.

3) His conclusion is also unsubstantiated considering his failure to provide any form of proof equating the Islamic movement's policies to that of the current oppressive regimes ruling the various states in the Muslim world.

My argument against his letter is as follows:

1) No proof thus far of any form of oppression ever practiced by any Islamic movements in the world. If you want to use the Taliban as an example, then I suggest you check your sources because most of the stories about the Taliban are one sided and are provided to us by the enemies of the Taliban.

2) Farish equating Islamic movements to the current oppressive rulers is also unsubstantiated. Thus far, Farish has failed to show any wrongs committed by any of the Islamic movements in the world. So his conclusion puzzles me.