1. Malaysia Today (http://mt.m2day.org)
FAITH WITHOUT FEAR: ALLOW BIBLES IN BAHASA MELAYU!, 29 December 2008
by Farouk A. Peru(www.farouk.name)
On one hand, you have the ’Towering Malay’, the ‘Cemerlang, Gemilang Terbilang Malay’, the ‘Glokal Malay’ and the thousand other brands of Malay. On the other, you have the type of Malay who’s afraid to read the bible in case he loses faith in Islam. Contradiction? I think so
Reading the Christian Federation of Malaysia’s (CFM) call to rescind the ban on bibles in Bahasa Melayu, we find a good opportunity for the Prime Minister to finally show some resolve. He has after all, stated his wish to see the racial and religious tensions in our country cooled down. A good way to do this would be to make not only the Bible, but other religious texts like the Gita and Sutras available in Malay as well. Not that it matters much because these texts are also in English which all Malays would know to a degree anyway, but it would be a gesture of goodwill at least.
Sadly, in our country, we need to protect the Malays from the world. We Malays are treated as if our Islamic faith is so fragile that the second we read about any other religion, we would all abandon it and embrace that religion. We should be deeply insulted by this assumption and say so to the government. Moreover, we should also be aware of the offense this would cause to our fellow Malaysians not of the Islamic faith. After all, this ban is implicitly saying that what they consider holy is simply corrupting. While Muslims chose to be Muslims (if they did at all) rather than be any other religion, this does not entail that we derogate any other faith.
Furthermore, what does Quran say about all this? Quran does not seem to shy away from discussion at all. Rather, it talks about the study of all the philosophies available and selecting the best one (39/18). How is one to do this if one does not have access to any other philosophies? Quran itself becomes more distinct and deep when its reader continuously seeks information (41/3). Therefore if our information is curtailed, our very study of Quran is hamstrung. Lastly, we are told to call people to the path with wisdom and to debate them with most beautiful arguments (16/125). How on earth are we to do this if we’re not allowed to know what the Bible says?
Quran does not propagate this faith in fear which our government and the Islamic clergy propagate. Rather, Muslims should be brave enough to intellectually engage with all other religions and philosophies. This engagement isn’t about finding superiority. Indeed, Quran never claims to be the sole source of truth but rather a guardian over truth (5/48).
On the other hand, we have the Malaysian government which seeks to stop Muslims from engaging with anything. We are to become Muslims who live with the fear that our faith in Islam will simply shatter by reading any other text. Is our faith worth anything then, if this is the case?
Lets hope that Badawi who’s a scholar of Islam (when he’s awake) would for once in his career follow through with his resolution and really tries to cool down the racial and religious tensions in our country. As the CFM suggests, having the bible translated into Malay would help this. By reading the bible, Malays would be able to understand the primary source of Christianity which is one of the world’s great religions and civilisations. Inevitable disagreement that will follow is fine, as long as it is in peace.
2. Berbanama.com (http://www.bernama.com)
Muslims Urged To Empower Islam To Greater Glory、29 December 2008
PUTRAJAYA, Dec 29 (Bernama) -- The Deputy Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah, today called on Muslims to strive to institute changes to enhance the position of Islam in the country so as to empower Islamic civilisation to a more glorious stage.
Muslims, who made up almost a quarter of the world's population, could enrich their civilisation to greater glory if they used the capability and wealth they have been edowed with, he said in his royal address at the national-level 1430H Ma'al Hijrah celebration at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre here.
Tuanku Abdul Halim, who is the Sultan of Kedah, said that in their endeavour to attain that objective, Muslims should discard certain elements which had all along impeded their progress and development towards glory.
He identified these as disrespect for "ulama" (religious elders); the inclination to take the easy way out by neglecting religious teachings; laziness in terms of thinking and work; being hostile to fellow Muslims; and giving priority to self-interests without any heed for the right and wrong in Islam.
Tuanku Abdul Halim said Muslims should make it a point to understand and practice the vision entrusted by Allah (God) in the Quran and Hadith whereby Islam and its followers have to shine as bearers of blessings for the whole world.
He said the vision must be made the basis for fostering the spirit of solidarity among Muslims and with non-Muslims to establish a strong social network in the country.
The theme of this year's Ma'al Hijrah celebration is "Menjana Ummah Gemilang" (Generating a Glorious Muslim Community).
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his wife Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah as well as Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi were also present at the event.
Tuanku Abdul Halim said that with the advent of the year 1430H, it was most appropriate that Muslims in the country subject themselves to a self-evaluation to reflect on the development and changes they had undergone.
"I believe that by way of self-evaluation, we can gauge our strengths and weaknesses well and move on towards the anticipated greater glory.
"I am confident that the theme for this year's Ma'al Hijrah celebration can drive Muslims to ponder and organise the path into the future with the capacity to handle the challenging global competition of today," he said.
He urged Muslims to work together and enhance their capability and discharge their responsibility well and with sincerity, saying that glory could only be achieved with some degree of determination and sacrifice.
Earlier, Ahmad Zahid, in his speech, called on Muslims to always give preference to and strengthen solidarity among themselves which, he said, was vital as a strong bulwark against those who were getting bolder in questioning the integrity of Islam.
"Without solidarity and strong brotherhood, we can be easily manipulated by the enemies of Islam who are constantly planning strategies to weaken Muslims. We cannot allow this phenomenon to continue," he said.
He said differences of opinion arising from trivial issues should be set aside while being open-minded on secondary issues but united on the main issue which, among other things, involved the future survival of Muslims.
"As such, the theme (of the Ma'al Hijrah celebration) holds much relevance and must be made the basis to motivate Muslims to work hard towards development of the religion, race and country," he said.
He said the government was sensitive to developments in the community and various current issues were evaluated and given advice on as a guideline for Muslims, particularly in ensuring that they remained faithful to their religion.
"Any element that can undermine the faith will be eradicated. The Department of Islamic Development of Malaysia (Jakim) conducts constant research to study, scrutinise and make proposals in ensuring that Muslims remain faithful to their religion," he said.
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