The sharing the term ‘Allah’ can be a subtle way of prosetysing Muslims to Christianity? Why do they repeat the same repetition in this fast-changing society? (Lily)
1.The Malay Mail Online (http://www.themalaymailonline.com)
Church group under probe for ‘Allah’ Facebook post, 3 July 2013
by Boo Su-Lyn, Debra Chong and Zurairi Ar
More than 60 per cent of the country’s Christians, believed to number just under 2.8 million, are Malay-speaking Bumiputeras from Sabah and Sarawak. – Picture by Choo Choy MaySHAH ALAM, July 3 — An evangelical church group is now being investigated for posting a Facebook message urging Christians to pray for the blessings of “Allah”, a word still in the center of a tug-of-war battle that has been threatening religious harmony in multiracial Malaysia.
Selangor PAS commissioner Dr Abd Rani Osman confirmed with The Malay Mail Online yesterday that the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) is investigating the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship of Malaysia (NECF), despite the state government’s earlier attempt at intervention.
“The state government proposed to take over to control the whole thing,” Rani said when approached on the sidelines of the Selangor state legislative assembly here.
“The state government doesn’t want to make this a big deal. But... according to JAIS, a complaint has been opened, so the investigation is on,” the Selangor PAS chief said.
Jalur Tiga (Jati), a group formed by former Selangor state lawmaker Datuk Hasan Ali who purports to champion Malay rights, had filed a police complaint against NECF on May 14, accusing the Christian group of attempting to convert Malays in a Facebook campaign.
“I saw the use of the word ‘Allah’in the picture was against the Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation amongst Muslims) Enactment 1988 and Article 11 of the Federal Constitution, which makes it an offence,” Jati treasurer Noor Azizan Abdul Majid had told reporters after filing his report at the Shah Alam district police headquarters on May 14.
Religious tensions have been long been simmering in Malaysia in recent years, with the latest controversy surrounding a proposed law on child conversions to Islam deepening divisions between the Muslim majority and religious minorities.
The Muslim Lawyers Society of Malaysia (PPPMM) accused NECF last month of committing “criminal” sacrilege against Islam by misappropriating the word “Allah” for their purposes, despite a landmark High Court ruling in 2009 that the Middle Eastern word was not “exclusive”to Islam.
The NECF said in a response last month that its Facebook prayer campaign, which is called Malaysia MyHome, was just meant for Christians.
The umbrella body representing Malaysia’s evangelical churches added that the Bahasa Malaysia version of the campaign contained the word “Allah” for the benefit of its East Malaysian Bumiputera congregation.
More than 60 per cent of the country’s Christian population – estimated to total just under 2.8 million – are Malay-speaking Bumiputeras from Sabah and Sarawak.
One-third of Sabah and more than half of Sarawak residents profess the Christian faith.
But many have migrated across the South China Sea over the years in search for better jobs and livelihoods, bringing with them scriptures in their native languages with also contain the word “Allah” and starting up Bahasa Malaysia church services.
Rani stressed that it was “not proper” for JAIS to investigate NECF over the latter’s Facebook post, saying the Selangor state government wanted to have a dialogue with both JAIS and NECF on the issue.
“It’s not proper for JAIS to call the church,” said Rani. “We wanted to sit them both down and not make it a big issue.”
He added that he received information about the case from Sallehin Muhyi, the Selangor executive councillor in charge of Islamic affairs.
JAIS director Marzuki Hussin did not respond to calls or messages requesting comment.
NECF secretary-general Eugene Yapp declined comment.
But a lawyer familiar with the case said the Christian evangelical body had been advised against replying to JAIS.
“Eugene Yapp is the secretary-general of NECF. We advised him not to respond,” Annou Xavier told The Malay Mail Online last night.
Xavier, who is part of a legal group keeping a watch on issues affecting the minorities, said JAIS had issued a letter to NECF two weeks ago and a meeting was supposed to be held last week.
“But JAIS called it off,” he said.
The lawyer acknowledged that Section 10 of the same Islamic enactment cited by Jati empowers the state Islamic body to investigate anyone suspected of spreading non-Islamic creeds.
However, he argued that the Islamic law was not applicable to non-Muslims.
“It doesn’t concern us as non-Muslims,” Xavier said.
He said that if the NECF had entertained JAIS’ call for a meeting, it may set a “dangerous precedent” for non-Muslims to be hauled up on similar matters.
“We don’t want to set a precedent. It’s a dangerous precedent,” Xavier said.
JAIS had sparked controversy when it raided an evangelical church in Petaling Jaya in 2011 after receiving a complaint that Muslims were present at a dinner function there, sparking suspicions that Christians were attempting to proselytise Muslims.
2. Aliran（http://aliran.com/14336.html）
Conversion of minors: No justification, 2 July 2013
by P Ramakrishnan
The Federal Court was wrong in its judgment in 2008 about the conversion of minors, says P Ramakrishnan.
Nazri: Spouse who converts into Islam has to also fulfil his or her marital responsibilities according to civil marriage laws.
A lot has been said that Islam is a just religion, a religion of peace and compassion. All this is true.
In keeping with the virtues and values of Islam, Islamic adherents are under a solemn obligation to give meaning to this by what they do and practise.
In other words, the Islamic faithful cannot be indifferent to the fate of someone who is of a different religion. They cannot deny the rights of these people nor can they be dismissive of the suffering when one Islamic faithful leaves his former family in the lurch after converting.
As a human being, he is expected to provide for his wife and children notwithstanding his embrace of Islam. If he fails to discharge this responsibility that is expected of him, should Islam embrace him? Should a man who betrays the trust of a family and abdicates his responsibility be welcome into Islam? Should such people be allowed to bring disrepute to the religion?
Unfortunately this is what is too often happening today. Secretly, the man converts, and all hell breaks loose for the family. He is not bothered. He compounds the misery of his wife by unilaterally converting his children to Islam. He shatters the life of a mother; and claims refuge in Islam. There is a moral question here.
One would expect religious authorities to guide him in the path of righteousness before he is allowed to convert. He should be advised to exemplify Islamic virtues by displaying compassion and discharging his responsibility to his family before he can find a place in Islam.
The religious authorities contribute to the family break-up when they convert his children without the knowledge or consent of their mother. By so doing, they add to the suffering of the helpless mother. Is this fair?
In a recent case, it is reported that a husband abandoned his wife from Jelebu in February last year without providing for her welfare, and converted to Islam. In April this year, very quietly and without the knowledge of his wife, he converted both his children aged five and eight.
These children were not born Muslims. Is it right to convert minors who have no knowledge of Islam? Having been brought up in the Hindu faith, how do they reconcile their conversion to Islam?
It is wrong for Negeri Sembilan State Islamic Affairs Department director Datuk Johani Hassan to insist that “when one parent embraces Islam, the children can be automatically converted. … The law does not say that we need the consent of both parents before we can convert their children.”
The Federal Court might have erred when it ruled that the word “parent” in the Constitution meant a singular person and therefore a single parent could convert the child. But the phrase “consent of the parent” could not have meant that. If that was the intention of the framers of the Constitution, they would have expressed the intention as “consent of either parent”.
This contention must be correct. Malaysian Bar president Christopher Leong had pointed out that “Article 160 of the Federal Constitution explains the rules of interpretation. … It is stated that words importing the masculine gender include females and words in the singular includes plural and vice versa.”
How this important point could have been overlooked is a mystery to me. According to Mr Leong, “Until 2002, the Bahasa Malaysia version, as published by the Government Printers, translated ‘parent’ as ‘ibu bapa’. However, in the 2002 edition of the translated Federal Constitution, the word ‘parent’ was translated as ‘ibu atau bapa’,” he added.
For the word “ibu bapa” to be changed to “ibu atau bapa” would require an amendment to the Federal Constitution. But from what can be ascertained, there was no such amendment. The original intention of the Constitution must remain unaltered.
That is crystal clear. The Malaysian Bar must move to have the Federal Court decision reviewed. Otherwise, a great injustice will be perpetuated.
In this unpleasant and worrying controversy, why is the Cabinet not speaking up especially when a decision was made in April 2009? It was then decided that children of parents where one of them opts to convert must continue to be raised in the common religion at the time of marriage.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department at that time, Datuk Seri Nazri, said it was decided in the Cabinet meeting that a spouse who has converted into Islam would also have to fulfil his or her marital responsibilities according to civil marriage laws.
“Religion should not be used as a tool to escape (marital) responsibilities. Conversion is not a ground for the automatic dissolution of a marriage,” he said at a press conference at Parliament building on Thursday (23 April 2009).
“The children should be brought up in the common religion. For the spouse who intends to convert into Islam, he or she would also have to come clean,” he said.
This is a fair and just Cabinet decision. Why is the Barisan Nasional government not enforcing this decision? Why is the Prime Minister allowing this unnecessary controversy to drag on? Our nation should not be embroiled in this issue.
Please speak up, Mr Prime Minister.
P Ramakrishnan
Aliran executive committee member
20 June 2013
・P Ramakrishan, the long-serving former president of Aliran, has been granted a respite and now happily serves as an Aliran executive committee member. He has carried the flag for human rights and democracy for Aliran since its inception in 1977, when the term ‘human rights’ was considered something of a dirty word.
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