Malaysian Debate About Use of "Allah" Continues
January 4, 2010
The New Year began with a good piece of news for Malaysia’s Catholic community as the court ruling was announced in churches across the country.
Father Lawrence Andrew, the editor in chief of the Herald, Malaysia’s main Catholic newsletter, was very satisfied.
“I feel good about the decision that the court has given,” he said, saying that it recognised the constitutional rights of Catholics and the fact that they “are citizens of one Malaysia, not two Malaysias. We can use a word that has been in our vocabulary for centuries, a word that has become part of our culture.”
The government, which appealed the decision on Monday, had originally justified the ban by saying that the use of the word “Allah” in a Christian publication could be confusing to Muslims.
Avoiding accusations of evangelisation
However, Muslims do not usually read the Herald, which has a circulation of 14,000.
Father Andrew explained that the newsletter was sent to churches across Malaysia for free to avoid any accusations of proselytising.
“We have taken a stand not to circulate it beyond the churches because according to the constitution it would be an offence to give something to a non-Christian, to a Muslim. It would be seen as evangelising and therefore we have decided not to go against the constitution. If there are people of other religions beside Islam who want a copy they are welcome to take it.”
Constitution guarantees freedom of religion
Malaysia’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion and the fact that the country’s different religious communities have equal rights. But it also declares Malaysia a secular state with Islam as the main religion.
Some 60 percent of the country’s 26 million inhabitants are Muslim.
About 850,000 are Catholics. The rest of the population is made up of Buddhists, Hindus and Christians of other denominations.
Provocative use of word “Allah”
Law professor Shad Saleem Faruqui at the Mara University of Technology in Kuala Lumpur thought that to use the word “Allah” in a Christian publication was provocative.
“The word ‘Allah’ is not a Bahasa Malaysia word,” he said. “Allah actually is a Koranic word. It’s been associated for centuries with Islam. The word in Malay would be ‘Tuhan’ or ‘Dewa’. I don’t see any problem about using ‘Tuhan’ or ‘Dewa’ for god. The use of the word ‘Allah’ is generally associated with Islam.”
The Herald is not the only Catholic publication affected by the court ruling. Thousands of bibles and Christian CDs from Indonesia that use the word “Allah” for god instead of Tuhan or Dewa have been confiscated. The court decision is still pending.
Author: Bernd Musch-Borowska/Anne Thomas
Editor: Thomas Bärthlein