As for this topic, please refer to my previous postings (http://d.hatena.ne.jp/itunalily2/archive?word=Orang+Asli+)(http://d.hatena.ne.jp/itunalily2/archive?word=Orang%20Asli%20&of=50). (Lily)
Malay Mail Online(http://www.themalaymailonline.com)
Orang Asli Christians relieved as Johor hymn book controversy ends , 20 December 2014
by Pathma Subramaniam
The fear of Orang Asli Christians of Kampung Tanah Gempur in Bekoh, Tangkak that they would spend Christmas without their Malay-language hymnals has been erased after authorities agreed to return the seized books.
Following news that the books were seized for containing “Allah”, the Arabic word for God that Muslims here consider exclusive to Islam, some 100 indigenous parishioners of the Melaka-Johor Diocese congregated prayer for the safe return to their seized hymnals.
For more than two hours, over 100 parishioners remained in a silent prayer on Thursday, waiting the return of the congregation's priest Father Cyril Mannayagam together with all 31 of the confiscated books.
After two tumultuous weeks of dealing with the enforcement authorities, Cyril said the villagers have been praying for “good news” and were elated when he was asked to retrieve the confiscated books ― “Mari Kita Memuji Allah Kita” or “Praise Be To God” ― from the Tangkak police station at 8pm on that day.
“They were informed that I was going to pick up the books at 8pm, so all of them sat in prayer and didn't budge till I got to the village at 10.15pm,” he told Malay Mail Online.
The priest, who has been working with one of the few indigenous Catholic communities in Johor for the past four years, related that the Orang Asli parishioners made up one quarter of the over 400 churchgoers ― who are predominantly Chinese.
Unlike the majority of the congregation, the indigenous Orang Asli community use Bahasa Malaysia to communicate.
The hymn books are also unique to the community, as the books were designed by members of the Orang Asli for their own religious use and have been in circulation for more than 30 years.
But the seizure could not have come a worst possible time, said Cyril, as the 50-page booklet is specially used during Advent, the season of Christmas, and the diocese has been busy rehearsing the hymns leading up to celebration next week.
“It's been a very difficult time for us... the mental torture just waiting for the books to be returned was bad enough,” he said.
With the police assurance that the investigation has been closed, Cyril said the community felt relieved as they are able to practise the right to worship in their own way.
“Our rights have to be respected and we cannot have people claiming for exclusivity in the way they pray,” he said.
The Johor police, acting on a tip-off, confiscated the books at a bookshop in the town of Tangkak, where the original hymn book was sent to be photocopied on December 5.
The books bore the word “Allah” and featured a picture of a church with a crucifix on the cover.
The police had detained Cyril for questioning under Section 298A of the Penal Code for causing disharmony, disunity, or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will on grounds of religion, the same day.
The priest was released the same night and investigation papers were forwarded to the state Deputy Public Prosecutor Office's, who had decided to drop the case.
But the move drew stern criticism from opposition politicians, calling it a violation of Putrajaya’s 10-point solution in dealing with the “Allah” controversy.
Controversy over non-Muslim use of “Allah” first erupted when the Catholic Church initiated a legal suit against the federal government after it was first banned from publishing the Arabic word for God in the Bahasa Malaysia section of its weekly newspaper, Herald, in 2007.
Christianity is the third-biggest religion after Islam and Buddhism.
The issue has become a religious flashpoint in a country where the line between creed and ethnicity is often blurred.
（End）
