Today, ima talk about religion & politics. If its social issues & politics - you call is socio-political, so i don't know if there's such a thing called relio-politics but heck, that's what ima talk about now. Relio-politics.
Recently in Malaysia, there's been some conflict on the Christian usage of "Allah" and its been significantly hyped up by the media. The conflict, in much simpler words, pertains an issue with Roman Catholics calling their God by his name, Allah. In English, it's God, in Bahasa Malaysia, it's Allah, just in case you were wondering. And Jesus is a prophet sent by God/Allah, just in case you were wondering again.
Well it all started from some disgruntled Malaysian Muslims (or Malays) because Christians called their God, Allah, in Bahasa Malaysia. They felt that it was a threat to the Malays because that might confuse the Malays into worshipping the wrong God or something to this effect. They also feared religious conversions because in Malaysia, religion sort of governs the country - they put it above the law - because Islam is the official religion of the country. I mean they fucking threathen to can you if you're a fucking hot Malay chic who drinks alcohol. So that's what im talking about.
As a result of the disgruntled Malays, a ban was imposed on Christians for calling their God by his name... wtf.
Lately, there's been some ammendments. The high court lifted the ban and Christians were allowed to call their God by his name again. It was a great way for many Bahasa Malaysia speaking Roman Catholics in Malaysia to usher into 2010.
As a result of this the Government, via the media (Star to be specific), has claimed that the current situtation is "pressing" and has been "aggravated" and they hope that it will not be "aggravated further" - implying that the Malay sentiments pertaining the issue has been "aggravated".
"I hope the situation will not be aggravated further and the Government does not encourage any demonstration or gathering to be held," he told reporters Sunday after presenting incentives to pupils in the Pekan constituency who excelled in the UPSR examinations last year.
And the Government wishes to ease off the "aggravation" & the "pressing situation" by appealing the court's decision of lifting the ban on Christians calling their God by his name. Here's the article from Star:
PEKAN: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak urged Muslims to remain calm over the High Court decision to allow the Catholic weekly, Herald, to use the word ‘Allah’ in its publication.
He said the Home Ministry would appeal the court’s decision and that he would keep the Rulers briefed.
Now, i've spoken to a few of my Malay friends, not representative but a dipstick, and they seem to be happy about the high court's decision of lifting the ban. Simply because it could indirectly lead to unity amongst the religions, a bond that's been torn apart. Because they believe (their 'teachers' even tell this to them at their marriage courses! haha wtf) that Muslims, Christians & Jews worship the same God. 1 boss - God/Allah.
So i do not know why the media (Star to be specific) is playing up the issue of Malays being "aggravated" and the "pressing situation", sorry but why the fucking fuck for? Unless, there's a hidden agenda behind this whole scenario. I mean, I don't know.
So my proposed solution to the government to solve this issue is to explain to the Malays that Christians communicate with God through Jesus & Muslims communicate through Muhammad. Jews communicate through im not sure, but i think Abraham? But they all report to the same boss, God/Allah. It's just like going to Sunway, you can use Federal Highway, or you can use LDP, or you can use NPE - different channels, but same destination.
I give you 1 more analogy, something you can better relate to. You have a ruling coalition called Barisan National (BN). Under this coalition, you have UMNO, MCA & MIC. Different channels, but they report to the same boss, BN. Under UMNO, you have Najib as the leader. Ong Ka Ting runs the MCA business and Samy sits on MIC's throne. So just TRY and imagine that Najib is Muhammad, Ong Ka Ting is Jesus and Samy is Abraham. And so this doesnt go wrong, you need to imagine that Najib doesn't control Barisan National. It's probably an Agong - just imagine ok.
So now, you cannot say that MCA followers cannot call their boss, Agong, because UMNO followers also call their boss, Agong. If MCA followers call their boss Agong, then it might confuse the UMNO followers. Same boss, HELLO?!
And with all due respect, i cant compare God to a boss - simply a terrific understatement but just so we can all relate.
I believe, and i believe everyone will second, that if you are a commited Muslim, or Malay. You can very well differentiate a Bible vs a Quran, a Church vs a Mosque, a Priest vs an Imam to name just a few examples.
So by explaining this to the Malays, they might probably understand the dynamics between these religions because trust me - do not over-estimate them - they might not be aware. And i also refer to alot of Christians in the country. I've heard Christians say that converting to Islam leads you to hell and how all Muslims are terrorist - now fuck that. Same boss my friends, its what you're more comfortable with and how you want to communicate with God. Ultimately, Islam or Christianity of Jew, they worship the same God.
As a concequence, this understanding could potentially evolve into unity amongst the religions in the country as they realize that its fucking stupid to hate each other. This could lead to genuine unity (respect for each others' religions) - what i see as 1 good aspect of 1 Malaysia.
I am not criticizing your decision of appealing the rule but im appealing for your re-consideration of your decision. I am sure you've meant good but as an end-reader, it came across to me as though the Christians have caused "aggravation" amongst the Malays and BN (or more specifically UMNO) is trying to solve the issue, thus being the hero for the Malays. You're not so inhuman to think of such political propoganda right? I trust you're not.
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Signing off,
A humble citizen
Monday, January 4, 2010
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4 comments:
the problem with malay muslims especially those umno fler's are...they are given too many *hak therefore they think the word Allah is their *hak and nobody else.
if u talk to Arab fler's about this issue,they say it is fucking ludicrous.
james
and what about Atheists? can they use the word Allah? heh.
Hi Desmond...Thanks for your post. Just wanna clear a few things :
1. Muslim, Jews and Christians originated from the same root of the concept of God.
2. For Christians, God exist in 3 persons, God the Father (Creator), God the Son (Redeemer) and God the Holy Spirit (Sanctifier), these 3 persons exist as the same God. In simpler terms, its like the Sun..Its ONE Sun, but you see the Physical Sun (Creator), you see the Ray that gives Light (Redeemer) and you feel the Warmth (Sanctifier)from the Light. Thats how we Christians understand the concept of God.
2. Muslims however believe that God is One and does not exist in the Trinity concept.
That's how the misunderstanding starts.....
Here's more...
In the early 1800, Munshi Andullah, the great Malay scholar introduced the Arabic word 'Allah' as God in Malay and thus it has been used in the Malay Archipelagos (West and East Malaysia and Indonesia) as the rightful translation. And its been widely used ever since and limited in church worship/publications only.
So after all these years, if Muslims are still a growing majority in this country, were there any confusion that the Allah word exist in different context altogether? You are right about the highways..different higways but all leads to the same destination.
Our (the Roman Catholic Church) fight is not a fight to say our highway is better than your highway and hey..why dun u join our highway...but its more..just because you cant keep your highway clean and pothole-less, dun you dare come to my highway (with JKR, PLUS, tractors and all your machinery and yes THE STAR) and make potholes...that's not the way a fair government should act. And for the record, we are a secular country and not an Islamic state!
The only solution is through dialogue. Come and talk to us about your sensitivities and your views and we out of the love for Allah and our beloved country Malaysia, may compromise...but don't just slap an unreasonable BAN and threat of non-renewal of our publication license like a high school bully who can't tie his own shoelaces....that is how own Govt is behaving...and now going to the Appeal Court is like running to mummy....darn! Grow up la!
And for the record as well, the Arabs in the Middle East (including Christian Arabs that predates Islam almost 600 years) has been using the word Allah for worship. Now what makes Malaysia so special to own His name?
Love all!
Yeah James, absolutely. It's a shame to Islam.
Hi KY, Allah is the God of all creations and of all mankind. So anybody can praise Allah. But Allah will only accept those who praise him & him alone so there could be some conflict there with the practise of atheists.
Hi Raymond, thanks for your thoughts and i totally agree that some "misunderstandings" were triggered after the introduction of the holy trinity.
But put that aside, if you look into the origins of all the abrahamic religions that believe in the existence of 1 God, Allah is supposed to be the Lord of all mankind - Christians, Muslims, Jews and whatever.
The point is the muslims (or rather malays) cannot claim exclusivity of the usage of Allah. For prophet Muhammad wasnt sent by a new Allah, but the same Allah that sent Jesus. And before Muhammad, there were no muslims & was no Islam. So Muhammad was sent by Allah to preach Islam to the Christians & Jews.
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