Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Will The Catholic Church Now Defy The Malay Rulers?

I was elated to see the Malay Rulers intervening on the matter of the use of the word 'Allah' in the Catholic Herald magazine. As I had hoped, the message from the Rulers was that the use of the word 'Allah' should be exclusively for the God as worshiped by Muslims. Interestingly, an enactment from 1988 that forbids the use of the word Allah by other religions has since surfaced, and should assist in bringing the matter to a close.

As I had hoped, the intervention by 2 Rulers (that I am aware of so far), the Agong, His Majesty Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Wathiqu Billah Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin and the Sultan of Selangor, His Royal Highness Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, has led to some calm. I have not heard of any further Church attacks in any case since their intervention. One hopes this will be followed up by some consideration by the courts in the next round.

Of course, a greater hope would be for the Catholic Church to now bow to the will of the Malay Rulers and concede that it was indeed unwise for them to pursue the use of the word Allah. Indeed, if they had remained satisfied with the word Allah's continued use in East Malaysia as it was, we all would have lost much less. Now, it would be more dignified for the Catholic authorities to just withdraw their case from the courts and concede... rather than defy the Malay Rulers...

In the hope that the intervention of the Rulers will bring this sordid episode of provoked violence to a close, I have to thank many here for reading my views on this matter. I also appreciate the comments, however vitriolic, that has given me some interesting insights. I am particular grateful to those who have spread my message out, from Pet, wherever you may be (London? Hahaha!), the Edge, through to KJ's Coffee Boy (still 'unspoilt' I hope!).

I found at least one foreign webservice treating my views a little more kindly. More significantly though, after all my criticism of liberal Malays, I also find it hence of greatest irony (or maybe not) that it's a liberal that got the purpose of my article that caused so much confused anger, and whom I believe understood the gist of what I was trying to convey. Good on you Anas Zubedy!

Finally, one correction worth recording here. I never sent my postings to Malaysia Today or the Malaysian Insider. They were picked up the the respective web-portals/news services themselves. So, if I am so guilty of 'propogating violence', then so must they be. Fortunately, I don't think any of us were doing anything of the sort. We were propogating truth... of a fashion... from a Malay's eyes...

19 comments:

Tun Faisal Ismail bin Aziz said...

teruskan perjuangan bro...

Quantum Metal Consultant said...

Sewajarnya keputusan Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan dan Titah Sultan dan Raja Raja Melayu diwartakan dan menjadi kuasa undang undang untuk dirujuk oleh pihak perundangan dan pentadbdiran lain dalam membuat keputusan.

Jika tidak, keputusan dan titah itu hanyalah seperti juga 'anjing menyalak bukit'.

artic turban said...

Your question is very stupid, ""Will The Catholic Church Now Defy The Malay Rulers?" let me answer your question with a question.
Which are you afraid of,Whom would you bow you will and soul to, your almighty god, your Prophet or a mere hereditary mortal?
Let this be a clue moron,
GOD, KING AND COUNTRY OR
GOD COUNTRY AND KING.

Anonymous said...

I don't think the question you asked is relevant.

All this while, the Herald is obeying the Federation Constitution, which is the supreme law of this land, to seek justice.

Let justice be done according to the Rule of Laws.

God, the Judge of all judges will decide.

Unknown said...

Whatever you bigot, damage is done.

gonduboy said...

I am an East Malaysian Christian and a real native to Sabah (not a decendant of a pendatang from Acheh). What gives you the right to be my Tuan Melayu? This is my country too and my forefathers who came before me.

This is my stand on the issue.
"No man, government or King have the right to tell/force/compel me on how to call our God and to interfere in my religion. I will worship my God as I see fit".

Are these mere mortals above the law and constitution of the country? What next? You want to banned us from using our Al Kitab (malay bible) to cater to your sensitivities?

Thanks, Dr. Anthony Tibok

nazri halim said...

esi dun siputeh..akan berlau pilihanraya...singgah sat kena kopi o dulu..

Donplaypuks® said...

You wish!

Why should they? The backbone of 1 M'sia (you believe in Najib's spiel don't you, just as you did Pak Lah's Islam Hadhari?) is our Constitution and Justice is meted out by our COURTS.

You belive in LAW don't you?

dpp
We are all of 1 race, the Human Race

Ramli Mohd Yunus said...

Dear Akram,

Most people (Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist and Muslim) talk about law and order but they dismiss order of the day..peace and harmony!!!

Lama tak jumpa, bila boleh kita buat perjumpaan blogger utara lagi?

Salomon said...

So this is the face of Islamo-Fascism.

glassman said...

The law sayeth, Low Cost Flats are for lower income groups/people but we find BMW's Mercedes, Honda Accords civics and all sorts of cars and motorcycles park everynight. The Law is meant to be broken. Even god's law. and god's right to forgive. Still wanna use ALLAH? Pray tell why can't you use tuhan? We all know why.

Jom Jom said...

gonduboy,

Malay Bible? Can translate as they like and you people follow like a blind mice?

"ALLAH" is not a malay word bruder..Malay translation for God, is Tuhan..

Go here and learn about the person who came up with the Malay Bible..

Can simply use any name given by any tom dick and harry?

http://satdthinks.blogspot.com/2010/01/problem-of-meaning-abdullah-paderi-and.html

Stranger

Unknown said...

That's why I said, a malay bible for malay speaking christians (not necessarily malays and hopefully not, but mostly bumiputera brothers from Sabah and Sarawak) should use a malay word for God, which is Tuhan.

Allah, like many of them said equal to God in Arabic, should only be used in Arabic bible. Makes more sense.

Cakap boleh rojak2, BM + English + Arabic, but in written form, they should stick to the use of one standard language.

Arabic for arabic bible and malay for malay bible. tak susah kan?

Unknown said...

if you say violence is inevitable because of the use of allah, you are just merely admitting that the malays are violent people , underdeveloped, have a shallow mind, cannot think rationally... this is the age of 21st century.. and not the age of feudalism.. you do not have exclusive right to any word.. you are just umno exploiting the peoples emotions... shame on you having graduated from overseas and you behave just like "hang jebat" from the 16th century... yes, pull out your keris and threaten the rest of malaysia...
same, you know you are also a pendatang, so don't blame anyone else. You are a racist

Unknown said...

mohd muzamir,
if arabic word is allah, so why are you bothering the use of an arabic word in a malay bible ?
Since when you have a right over this? are you saying that melayu are so stupid that they will be confused? no, you are just trying to be the hero to protect the malays. when there is nothing to be protected.. this is the problem of you, instead of using the energy to develop the country, you resort to dividing and conquer, hiding behind your shortcomings and blaming other ethnic groups for your screw ups... you have succeeded because UMNO has managed to keep most of you stupid in the kampung with the mind and brains of a 16th century man... talk to the urban malays and they will tell you that what crap you mentioned here are loads of rubbish.. nobody has any right to prevent anyone from using any words.. how about the malay language , you use words from all other languages.. you think the english, french, dutch, will tell you that you can use any of these words? they won't because they are more matured unlike you guys...

Habib RAK said...

I guess the end is near. You have had your week of "limelight" where the number people leaving comments went from a mere 1 comment to 208comments on Jan 9, 2010 posting. Since then it has dwindled dramatically as people start to ignore you. All the same, Im sure it has been an interesting week for you. People will now remember you for your posturing that you have taken during this week. Just like how people remember Harun Idris for May 13, 1969 incident. Unlike before, we can easily google your name and your posturing will be revealed ever so easily. This will follow you for the rest of your life. I feel sad for you and for your supporters like Tun Faisal Ismail. May Allah guide you and me.

Unknown said...

Allahman,

I also consider myself an urban malay, and this is not rubbish to me and many other urban malays that I know of.

Bro, just because we don't agree that Allah is being shared with Christians in M'sia doesn't mean that we don't contibute anything to develop the country.

And, please don't think that all malays are UMNO member because I'm not.

About using words borrowed from other languages in a publication, of course it is ok.

Arabic word (Allah) for arabic bible and malay word (Tuhan) for
malay bible.

What's wrong with that?

You tell me .........

Unknown said...

mohd muzamir,

if you guys don't agree, you don't have to riot here and there.. the court and constituition already allowed it.. when are you going to respect the law? when all the pendatang is eradicated from this place? you guys are kurang ajar as in behaving like this.. just like a child who does not follow the school rules , he takes the law in his hand and damage his teacher's car..


why don't malay use the word tuhan instead? you tell me ?
tuhan is god in malay, why do you use allah , an arabic , word in your malay language? why ?

if you can do so, why can't the christans do so? christians and malay using the word allay (an arabic word) in their malay bible or papers... ?

you tell me.. what is wrong with that, why do malays have to be so sensitive to the extent they want to run amok ? burn down churches? you know what, it's in the genes and it's due to the 52 years of brainwashing by UMNO making a this pool of people who is beyond any more description in the 21st century..

Unknown said...

Allahman said ... "why don't malay use the word tuhan instead? you tell me ?
tuhan is god in malay, why do you use allah , an arabic , word in your malay language? why ?".

Allahmnan, Allah is a specific name for God is Islam. That's why we call our God Allah. Yo know that don't you? It's in the Quran since it was revealed to us 1400 years ago.

In our prayers, we also say, Ya Allah Ya Tuhanku ... meaning ... Hear me Allah, Hear me my God.

Also, "There is no God but Allah" or "Tiada Tuhan melainkan Allah:.

That's why we call our one and only God Allah, because the name of our one and only God is Allah.
OK?

All Muslims (sunni, shiah etc) all over the world, China, Spain, US, UK, Malayetc sia, Thailand,Africa, Middle East call call our God Allah.

I believe Hindus all over the world call ther god(s) by one standard name as well right?

Why can't Christians be the same?

Talk about riot, has there been any? From what I know there were only peaceful demos inside some mosques.

Of course, I also don't agree with the burning of the churches by whoever they are, malays muslims or otherwise.

We do respect the law, and talking about respecting the law, all Malaysians have to respect the laws, Malay, Org Asli, bumiputera Sabah and Sarawak and also other races in M'sia (Chinese, Indians, Siamese, Punjabis, Arabs). And not just Malays ok.

By respecting the law, you would have noticed that our Constitiution clearly says that Islam is the official religion of the federation, and other religions may be practised in peace and harmony.

There is a qualification there when our Constiytuion says "may be".

Care to check and tell us why?

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