Is This What the Egyptian Government Wants?

In a post dated 27 January 2007, entitled "ID Cards in Egypt: Yet Another Unusual Statement," and subtitled "Ministry of Interior Instructs Egyptian Citizens to Lie," the deputy minister of interior Essam el-Deen Bahgat When asked how the Baha'i matter should be dealt with, he responded by stating "we will enter the religion of the father whether he was Christian or Muslim in the religion section for the Baha'i applicants. If he [she] refuses, then we will not issue an ID card, and he will have to deal with the consequences."

If we follow the logic of the Egyptian government's official stand in its attempt to force the Baha'is to lie about their true religious identity and register themselves--for example--as Muslims, one wonders what the outcome could be!

As an exercise, let us assume that the Baha'is in Egypt do lie about their identity as they have been instructed by their government--even though the Baha'is would normally refrain from such an admission--the following partial list will illustrate the possible consequences of such a scenario:

1) Any Egyptian Baha'i man (with Muslim ID) can marry a Muslim woman, even though Shari'ah Islamic law forbids this possibility.
2) Any Egyptian Baha'i can be buried in a Muslim cemetery.
3) Any Egyptian Baha'i can have equal access to job opportunities--even in preference over Egyptian Christians.
4) Any Egyptian Baha'i can attend university and even graduate with the highest grades (normally reserved to Muslim students).
5) Any Egyptian Baha'i can obtain a birth certificate for his or her newborn child.
6) Any Egyptian Baha'i can be easily granted a death certificate so that his or her "Baha'i" family can receive their inheritance.
7) Any Egyptian Baha'i can receive inheritance from a Muslim parent.
8) Any Egyptian Baha'i can open a bank account.
9) Any Egyptian Baha'i can purchase or sell a property.
10) Any Egyptian Baha'i can obtain a driver's license.
11) Any Egyptian Baha'i can obtain a passport and travel the world freely.
12) Any Egyptian Baha'i can obtain a military draft number and serve in the armed forces.
13) Any Egyptian Baha'i can be considered for high-level government, academic, industrial, commercial, professional job, or any other highly sought after employment.
14) Any Egyptian Baha'i can teach in any public school or university.
15) Any Egyptian Baha'i child can be vaccinated and can receive all kinds of social services.
16) Any Egyptian Baha'i can be treated in a public hospital.
17) Any Egyptian Baha'i can receive social services, cost of living allowances and pension.

The list goes on....

Is this what the Egyptian government wants?

On the other hand, based on Egypt's constitution, aren't all these privileges the right of every Egyptian citizen regardless of his or her religion, belief, ethnic background, colour or creed?