Dealing with Malaysia's Racial and Religious Diversity...Part 2

It was kind of surprising that the issue regarding the use of the word Allah was allowed to be discussed live on tv. I watched yesterday a discussion about the issue on TV1. The three panelists seemed agree with the view that the word Allah should not be allowed to be used by Christians. They argued that the Muslims have the exclusive right to use the word Allah based on "historical evidence" and the concept of "tauhid" (divinity) taught by the Islamic religion. They were also with the view that allowing the word to be used by Christians would cause confusion among Muslims in Malaysia. One of the panelists further noted that the word Allah is being used by the Catholic Church as part of its strategies to spread Christianity among the young segment of the Muslim community.

It is good that the government has finally relaxed its censorship on issues related to religion to be discussed live. But it is a bit disappointing that the yesterday's discussion did not involve "experts" from other religions such as Christianity and Sikh. It would have been more interesting to listen to their views why the Bahasa Malaysia speaking Christians prefer to use the word Allah and not Tuhan. An avenue must be given to them as well to explain the issue. The Christian Indonesians use the word Allah in their worship and interestingly some of them have different views about the divine nature of Jesus (as some Muslim cannot accept the idea that Jesus is God). Some Christians and Muslims in Indonesia appear to have developed a mutual understanding about who Jesus is and his divine nature (this group of Christians hold the view that Jesus is not God per se but the "word" that became flesh (human) that is Jesus himself). I recently watched a CD where a Christian reverend speaks about the "meeting point" between Christians and Muslims.

He says that instead of debating about who is right and wrong, he suggests that Christians and Muslims take a closer look at how the Prophet Muhammad thinks about Jesus and how the latter possibly thinks about the former. He starts by saying that actually Christians and Muslims share the same God (Allah). He refers to a verse in Genesis which points to the fact that Ishmael and Isaac were given the same teaching from their father Abraham (the father of all nations). The speakers asks his audience: how can it be possible for Abraham to give Ishmael and Isaac a different set of teaching? If Abraham taught his two sons that they were to worship only one God (Allah), is it not plausible to conclude that Muslim and Christians are in fact worshipping the same God (Allah)?

In Sabah, the bahasa Malaysia speaking Christians have never had any problem using the word Allah. Many of them use the Indonesian translation that uses the world Allah to refer to God. The issue became prominent when the Sabah SIB under the tutelage of NECF brought the case to the court. In the meantime, the government has allowed the Herald Bulletin to continue its publication in bahasa Malaysia without using the word Allah until the court decides otherwise. The implications of the Allah issue to Malaysia are enormous:

• if the court decides that Allah can only be used by the Muslims, would this mean that the Christian holy book--the Bible--would have to be re-translated and the word Allah changed? The Christians, I suspect, would consider this unfair as others cannot tell them what word they should use in calling their God


• if the court decides that the word Allah can be used by the Christians, the Muslim would probably be unhappy as they would think that the Christians are challenging the position of Islam as the official religion in the country


• the court's decision may be a victory to one particular group and not the other. But either way, it will certainly create ripples here and there and could possible lead to unmitigated disaster

The way forward to solve any racial and religious issue, to my mind, is for all the concerned parties to go to the negotiating table and talk things over in a responsible and civil manners. I remember the Ibans were the first who felt that their religious rights were taken away from them when their Bible--the Bup Kudus--was confiscated by the Home Ministry as it contained the word "Allah Taala". The matter was resolved when the then acting Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi intervened. If I am not mistaken, the Bup Kudus can retain the word "Allah Taala" but with a caveat that it is strictly for private use only.

I am a firm believer in a consultative process and reaching a middle ground in solving a sensitive issue. I believe that this is the way forward in managing a multiracial and multireligious society. Using a confrontational approach will not do any good to anyone. In Part 3, I would like to offer solutions to the religious impasse.