I refer to CK Tan's 'The great halal food divide' (Nov 9) and whilst I appreciate his good intentions for more understanding amongst religious groups through 'open houses' and cross-cultural visits, one must understand each other's restrictions.

The consumption of non-halal food is, I think, well understood, but to Muslims, the utensils and crockery must also not have been used to serve non-halal items and this is always overlooked and trivialised as something overly 'fussy'. It is not. This is not a 'political' ploy as the writer seems to suggest, but a real requirement under Islamic teachings. There is no bending of the rules on this.

I think, in spite of us having lived together for generations, there is still a knowledge gap between the various religions.

The problems are not limited to the Muslims. As a Muslim, I have attended functions hosted by Muslims, which are attended by friends of other faiths, but yet do not cater for them. For example, I have attended functions that serve only beef, which cannot be consumed by the Buddhists and Hindus. Similarly, vegetarians are left with nothing much to eat because the host has forgotten about them.

We trumpet to the whole world about how rich our culture is, and how varied and interrelated our people are, but core problems like this are never attended to. We have so many agencies and NGOs but no one has really attempted to create a better understanding about the religious requirements of the various groups.

There is almost an embarrassment to talk about some of the religious requirements and most of the time they are just brushed aside. That is why we find Muslim architects who are too embarrassed to tell their clients that Muslims require water in the toilets and urinals, and go on to design something that is not totally beneficial to everyone. We also find a lot of stereotyping, such as assuming that all Indians are Hindus, when some are Christians, Muslims, etc., and therefore, must be catered for differently.

We also have to have a better understanding of each other's culture, because there is always the tendency to mistake culture for religion.

We should be encouraged to further learn and understand our intricate multiracial, multireligious society so that we will be what we tell the world we are.