Since Christians in Malaysia cannot use the Malay word for God, which is
the borrowed Arabic term "Allah," it is only right and fitting that the
United States
should prohibit Muslims from using the word "God" as synonymous with
the deity (or whatever it is) that they worship, and they must henceforth
use some other term so as not to "confuse" Jews and Christians.
All Koran translations into English that use the word God should
be seized and destroyed, in parallel with Malaysian custom.
This would solve the problem and Muslims would surely be satisfied
with this equitable result.
Almost forgot, any Muslim who blasphemes Jesus or Moses, should,
by provisions of new American law, be beheaded.
Hey, its only fair.....
BR
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Malaysia’s ‘Allah’ impasse
Matt K. George ("World Watch Monitor," January 24, 2014)
“God, what is your religion?” This cryptic question, spotted on a T-shirt
at a packed public meeting on religious freedom in the Malaysian city of
Petaling Jaya last week, sums up the enormity of Malaysia’s ‘Allah’
controversy.
The wearer was a Malay Muslim woman, according to The Malaysian Insider,
demonstrating solidarity with the minority Christian population as tensions
rise in the country over who can use the term ‘Allah’.
The controversy – for which many Malaysian Christians blame the Government –
has now reached a serious impasse.
The Christian community remains adamant that the use of ‘Allah’ is their
right, despite a ruling by the Court of Appeal last October that ‘Allah’
was exclusive to Malay Muslims. The word predates the birth of Islam and the
ruling has been widely criticised by many other Muslim nations, and by the
United Nations.
About 64 per cent of Malaysia’s Christians come from the Borneo states of
Sabah and Sarawak, where the term has been part of their vocabulary for more
than 100 years. The indigenous populations of the two states, whose
primary language is Bahasa Malay, claim the usage is their constitutional and
spiritual right. The Malay Bible dates back to the 16th century and, as the
government phases out English in favour of Bahasa Malay, more and more
Christians observe their faith in Bahasa Malay.
“All the churches are of one mind,” said Rev. Dr Hermen Shastri, the
general secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia. “We are only
defending
our freedom to practise our religion as guaranteed under the Constitution.”
Nevertheless, Islamic conservatives have staged demonstrations outside
churches, seized Bibles and continued to vilify the Catholic pastor, Rev.
Lawrence Andrew, who took the issue to the courts.
In early January Andrew was questioned over charges of sedition, which drew
international complaints, including a piece in The Wall Street Journal.
Following the raid on the Bible Society of Malaysia two weeks ago and the
seizure of more than 300 Bibles in the Malay language, the Islamic Religious
Department of the state of Selangor (JAIS) posted an advertisement in The
Star, an English language newspaper, defending its actions.
The National Fatwa Council, comprising the muftis, or Islamic scholars, of
the states of Malaysia, publicly backed JAIS’s swoop in which they also
arrested two officials of the Bible Society.
These actions, in a country once renowned for multiracial harmony, go
against the grain of a 10-point plan pronounced by the Government of Prime
Minister Najib Abdul Razak in April 2011 to resolve the issue. The key element
of the pledge emphasised that Christians are allowed to print, import and
distribute Bibles, referred to as the ‘Alkitab’ (‘The Book’) in the Malay
language.
The Prime Minister has so far refrained from defending his policy, while
churches have asked him to speak out and to rein in Islamic extremists.
But many Christians say they fear Prime Minister Najib cannot be seen to
capitulate on Christian usage of ‘Allah’, since it would give ammunition to
his political enemies in his ruling United Malays National Organisation
party (UMNO), who could seek to oust him from office.
Since the party brands itself as the champion of Malay Muslim supremacy and
the defender of Islam, it provides tacit support to JAIS and Muslim
extremists within UMNO.
The Prime Minister’s ambivalence is unhelpful, according to Rev. Shastri,
who said: “The Government should remain consistent. It is the same
Government that came out with the 10-point plan. It should also defend the
Constitution.”
The Methodist priest has called on Christian ministers in Government, such
as Idris Jala, who was a key architect of the 10-point plan, to impress
upon the Prime Minister the need to protect religious freedoms.
The ‘Allah’ controversy began in 2007 when the Government banned The
Herald, a Catholic weekly, from using the word. The Catholic Church contested
the order and the High Court restored its constitutional right in 2009. The
Government appealed that decision and in October 2013 a three-man Court of
Appeal ruled that Malay Muslims had an exclusive copyright to the word ‘Allah
’. Legal experts say the court’s decision is flawed and that its ruling,
if ratified, should only apply to The Herald and not to other Christian
literature, such as the Alkitab, or in liturgy.
The Catholic Church has now filed an application for leave to appeal to the
Federal Court, the highest legal authority in the land. Liberal Malaysians
hope an enlarged bench of 13 judges, including the Chief Judge of the
Borneo states, would adjudicate on the issue. The hearing is scheduled for
March 5.
Whether any court decision will appease the rival sides is debatable. “
Nothing is changing,” said Bolly Lapok, Bishop of Kuching, the capital of
Sarawak, and Archbishop of the Anglican Church of the Province of South-East
Asia. “We won’t stop using the word ‘Allah’.”
The right to freedom of worship was enshrined when Sarawak and Sabah joined
Malaysia in 1963. Christian and political leaders in the two states have
threatened to break away from the Malaysian union if the Government forces
their hand on the ‘Allah’ issue.
Most Malaysians are against such an outcome. Given the lack of political
will to end the deepening rift, an alternative suggestion was to invite the
Rulers’ Council, comprising the nine hereditary Sultans, to convene and rule
on the issue.
The Ruler of the state of Negri Sembilan last week urged Malay Muslims to
respect other religions and to live in harmony, regardless of race.
The Muslim Chief Minister of Sarawak, Taib Mahmud, is on record as saying
that the use of ‘Allah’ is not a problem in the state and blames the
central government for inciting intolerance and racism.
Political observers say that religious insecurities are being whipped up to
defer attention away from the Government’s economic and political
difficulties. The Government was recently forced to cut back on decades of
subsidised petrol and sugar prices as the national debt has reached
unsustainable
levels. The inevitable rise in the cost of living has fuelled public anger
and protests. The scheduled introduction of a Government Services Tax in
April 2014 is set to further escalate the cost of goods. Public corruption,
scandals, the lavish lifestyle of ministers and cohorts, and a lack of
accountability have all severely damaged the Government’s record and the
economy
in a resource-rich nation.
In this volatile mix of rising prices and protests, on top of the ‘Allah’
controversy, Christians are concerned. The Christian Federation of Malaysia
(CFM), in a statement last week, observed: “What we are witnessing is the
mad scramble by any and every group to grab media attention… [but] the
Christian community remains undaunted in the face of these and no doubt future
incidents of this nature.”
Rev. Dr Eu Hong Seng, chairman of the CFM, added: “We look to the courts of
this land to protect, preserve and defend principles of our Federal
Constitution.”
Christians meanwhile have taken succour from progressive Muslim groups such
as Sisters of Islam, which rallied to their support, distributing flowers
outside a church where Islamists had planned to protest. For this act of
solidarity, conservative Islamists demanded their arrests.
Other Muslim protagonists, such as Azmi Sharom, an outspoken law lecturer,
point out that nowhere in the Qur’an does it say that ‘Allah’ is exclusive
to Muslims. “Is [Islam] a religion that is so small in its worldview that
it can approve of one community claiming the term for God for itself? Is
Islam so lacking in common decency and compassion?” he said.
Meanwhile, the former Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim blogged: “The unwillingness
of UMNO leaders to find a peaceful solution to the ‘Allah’ issue is a
clear sign of the march towards authoritarian rule. Invoking the name of God
is just a ruse to gain support for a new dictatorship.”
The wearer of the T-shirt posed a fundamental question. The ball is now in
the court of the Malaysian Government to openly demonstrate that it
subscribes to the ethos of its own Constitution, its own 10-point resolution,
and
that it will uphold freedom of religion for all.
____________________________________
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