1．Ekklesia (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk)
Malaysia imposes new ban on use of 'Allah' by non-Muslims, 10 March 2009
by Ecumenical News International
Malaysia's government has re-imposed a ban on the word Allah in Bibles, and in Christian newspapers and religious texts in the Malay language following pressure from some Islamic groups in the southeast Asian country - writes Michele Green.
The home affairs ministry retracted a decree issued in mid-February 2009 which would have allowed the Roman Catholic-run Herald newspaper to use the word Allah in its Malay-language edition, if it included a warning on the front page saying the newspaper was for Christians.
Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the government had made a mistake in enacting the decree allowing the word to be used and that the matter should be decided in the courts. A petition by the Herald is still pending.
"There is a judicial review on the matter and we leave it to the court to decide. I think there was a mistake in enacting the gazette," the national Bernama news agency quoted Syed as telling reporters. A new government gazette about the ban would be issued this week, the Star newspaper reported.
Malaysian newspapers said the about-face was due to concern that Muslim groups who deeply disapprove of non-Muslims using the term "Allah" in their religious texts would vent their anger at the government in upcoming special or by-elections.
Christians point out that 'Allah' is the only word in Malay for God. They say they have used this word for more than 100 years and that it is allowed and widely used in Indonesia and by Christians living in other Arabic countries.
About 60 percent of Malaysia's 26 million population is Muslim. The rest are Buddhists (19 percent, Christians (9 percent), Hindus (6 percent), Sikhs and other faiths. Non-Muslims regularly complain that religious freedoms are encroached upon by the Muslim-led government.
The decision to allow the Herald to use the word "Allah" in its Malay-language edition followed a lengthy court battle after authorities in 2008 ordered the newspaper, run by the Catholic Church, to stop using the word. The newspaper was told its licence to publish would be revoked if it continued printing the word.
"Now we can use the word Allah again and continue printing," the Rev. Lawrence Andrew, the editor of the Catholic weekly had said after the earlier short-lived decision, in February.
Malaysian Christians were also not entirely happy with the decision which required the newspaper to print a disclaimer, "For Christianity", in large type on the front page near the masthead. Failure to do so could have led to fines and imprisonment.
"This is an unfair imposition and unwarranted restriction on the practice of the Christian religion in this country," the Rev Hermen Shastri, the general secretary of the Council of Churches in Malaysia, had said in a statement. "People are now in a position of being in possession of a prohibited document."
He added that the government should accept the use of the term "Allah" as a heritage of non-Muslims in the region, and that the word was not exclusive to one religion.
Under Malaysian law, a citizen cannot convert to religions other than Islam. Muslim leaders have long expressed concerns that publications run by non-Muslim religious groups might be used to proselytise.
Ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities in Malaysia are mostly Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs.
[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches.]
2. The Star Online (http://thestar.com.my)
Banning use of word solves nothing, 11 March 2009
I AM deeply concerned after reading that fatwas had been issued in several states banning the use of the word Allah in all non-Muslim articles.
This is a dangerous precedent. I am given to understand that fatwas only apply to Muslims and are not to be used as a ruling on non-Muslims, too.
Furthermore, this issue is currently before the courts.
I understand the worry that usage of the word Allah by non-Muslims may confuse Muslim children, but the issue must not be settled by emotion and suspicion.
There are thousands of people in Malaysia who are Christians who speak only Malay, and they have used “Allah” to refer to God for generations.
I believe clarity of issues comes with clear teachings and not from banning this and that.
The more things are banned, the more people will be curious to find out. With the Internet, we cannot stop anyone from knowing anything they want to.
RON,
Kuala Lumpur.
© 1995-2009 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)
3. Reuters India (http://in.reuters.com)
Malaysia Christians battle with Muslims over Allah, 11 March 2009
by Niluksi Koswanage
KENINGAU, Malaysia (Reuters) - Reciting the Catholic Creed, the 1,800-strong congregation attending mass at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral on Borneo island intones in Malay: "We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of Allah".
These Malaysian Catholics, like their brethren in Indonesia, have used the word "Allah" in place of "God" since converting to Christianity in the 19th century.
But now the government in this mostly Muslim Southeast Asian nation of 27 million people wants to prevent "Allah" being used by Christians, saying it is subversive and aims to convert Muslims.
Christians fear this is just the thin edge of the wedge.
"The government of West Malaysia has an infection of religious hatred. We have to fight back so it does not spread," said Bishop Cornelius Piong after Sunday Mass at the cathedral in the heart of a rice-growing district in eastern Sabah state.
Christianity is practised by 9.1 percent of the Malaysian population, according to the 2000 census, the most recently available figures. Many of them, like Bishop Piong, come from ethnic groups such as the Kadazandusun, Dayaks, Ibans and Bidayuh who live in the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak.
"Our worship of Allah is so natural, it is part and parcel of the Kadazandusun people here," Piong said.
The row over the use of Allah to describe the Christian God feeds into a long-running feud over conversions between the government of a country where all Malays must be Muslims and other faiths, such as Hinduism and Buddhism that are practised by ethnic Indians and Chinese.
MALAYS FRET OVER CONVERSION
It is illegal in Malaysia to convert from Islam to any other religion although conversions to Islam are allowed.
One of the biggest cases involved Lina Joy, a woman who wanted to convert to Christianity to marry her partner, who was baptised and applied to have her conversion legally recognised by the Malaysian state.
She lost a court battle two years ago to have the word "Islam" removed from her identity card. All Malaysian identity cards carry a person's race and religion.
It is cases such as these that worry Malaysian Muslim activists and officials and they see using the word Allah in Christian publications including bibles as attempts to proselytise.
Those concerns led to the ban on the Catholic Herald newspaper's use of "Allah" to denote God. The Herald is now suing the government to overturn the ruling, made after it appeared the paper would be allowed to use "Allah" provided it stamped "For Christians" on the front page of the paper.
"Allowing Christians to use the word is dangerous because it's attacking the sole religion of the Malays," said Yusri Mohamad, president of the influential Muslim Youth Movement.
"We have to question Christians' motive for wanting to use this obviously Muslim word. It appears to be for conversions. All Muslim Malays in Malaysia are against this." Some leading Muslim scholars here say the issue is being blown out of proportion and that the risk of conversions among the 60 percent Muslim population is tiny.
They see it as an attempt by the government that has ruled Malaysia uninterrupted for 51 years since independence from Britain to hold on to power by identifying ethnicity with religion.
The main ruling party in Malaysia is called the United Malay National Organisation, and like its allies from Chinese and Indian parties, it is ethnically based.
"It is an irrational fear (of conversions) but a very powerful one," said Osman Bakar, the deputy head of the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia. "Now the government has moved to setting up demarcations around the national language."
SPILLING INTO POLITICS
While the Kadazandusun and other indigenous people on Borneo hold the same privileges as Malays in preferential access to areas such education, loans and housing, the resource-rich states of Sabah and Sarawak are far poorer than peninsular Malaysia.
Sabah and Sarawak have voted solidly for parties from the governing National Front coalition since the start of democratic rule in Malaysia.
That hegemony is now under threat after the opposition scored its best-ever election result in 2008 when it deprived the government of its two-thirds parliamentary majority and ended up in control of five of Malaysia's 13 states.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is now targeting the voters of Borneo in an effort to keep up pressure on the government and the first test will come in a state assembly by-election in Sarawak in early April.
There may also be a chance for voters in a constituency near to St Francis Xavier to flex their muscles depending on a court decision on whether a move to disqualify three non-government parliamentary candidates was valid.
For the people of Bishop Piong's congregation what happens in the battle over the use of "Allah" will certainly be an issue if the election is re-run.
"If the government wants to be nasty and stop people from using Allah, it can. But it may not work here. It's God's country here," said 28-year-old Teresa Palikat, a tailor, after attending Sunday Mass in Keningau district.
"If the elections happen, we will show them (the government) we are serious about Allah."
(End)
