A Christian church in Malaysia was set ablaze in a firebomb attack
The reason for their anger is a recent judgment by Malaysia's high court that the word Allah is not exclusive to Muslims. Judge Lau Bee Lan ruled that others,
including Catholics who had been prohibited by the Home
Because of Malaysia's ethnic makeup, religion is a sensitive issue, and
any religious controversy is seen as a potential spark for unrest. Some
60% of Malaysia's 28 million people are Malay Muslim, while the rest are
mainly ethnic Chinese, Indians or members of indigenous tribes,
practicing various faiths including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and
animism. Among Christians, the majority Catholics number about 650,000,
or 3% of the population. Despite Malaysia's diverse national
complexion, political Islam is a growing force,
and the country operates under two sets of laws, one for Muslims, the
other for everyone else. The authorities regard such
compartmentalization as essential to maintaining social stability.
To many Malay Muslims, Lau's ruling crosses the line. Prominent Muslim
clerics, lawmakers and government ministers have questioned the
soundness of the judgment. A coalition of 27 Muslim NGOs wrote to the
nine Malay sultans, each the head of Islam in their respective states,
to intervene and help overturn the verdict. A Facebook campaign by
Muslims started on Jan. 4 has attracted more than 100,000 supporters.
Among them: Deputy Trade Minister Mukhriz Mahathir, son of former Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who also waded into the controversy, saying
the court is not a proper forum to decide an emotional religious issue.
"The judgment is a mistake," says Nazri Aziz, Minister overseeing
Parliamentary Affairs, speaking for many Malaysian Muslims. The few
Muslims who have urged respect for judicial independence have been
shouted down as traitors. "I can't understand how any Muslim can support
this judgment," said legislator Zulkifli Noordin in a statement.
The case arose after the Home Ministry prohibited the Herald from using Allah for God
in its Malay-language versions in 2007. "We have been using the word
for decades in our Malay-language Bibles and without problems," the Rev.
Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Catholic publication, tells TIME. In May
2008 the Catholics decided to take the matter to court for a judicial
review — and won. "It is a landmark decision ... fair and just," says
Andrew. During the intermittent trial in the closing months of 2008,
lawyers for the church argued that the word Allah predated Islam and was commonly used by Copts, Jews and Christians to denote God in many parts of the world. They argued that Allah is an Arabic word for God and has been used for decades by the church in Malaysia and Indonesia. And they said that the Herald uses the word Allah
for God to meet the needs of its Malay-speaking worshippers on the
island of Borneo. "Some people have got the idea that we are out to
convert [Muslims]. That's not true," the lawyers said on behalf of the Herald.
Government lawyers countered that Allah denotes the Muslim God,
is accepted as such around the world and is exclusively for Muslims.
They said that if Catholics were allowed to use Allah, Muslims
would be "confused." The confusion would worsen, they said, because
Christians recognize a "trinity of gods" while Islam is "totally
monotheistic." They said the proper word for God in the Malay language
is Tuhan, not Allah. Lau held that the constitution guarantees freedom of religion and speech, and therefore Catholics can use the word Allah to denote God. She also overturned the Home Ministry order prohibiting the Herald from using the word. "The applicants have the right to use the word Allah in the exercise of their rights to freedom of speech and expression," she said.
Non-Muslim Malaysians worry that the vehement opposition to the Allah
ruling reflects a growing Islamization in a multireligious society.
Last October a Shari'a court sentenced a Muslim woman who drank beer to
be caned in public; in another incident, in November, Muslims enraged
over the construction of a Hindu temple near their homes demonstrated
their anger with a severed cow's head. They kicked and stomped on the
head, as Hindus — to whom cows are sacred — watched helplessly. As for
the court ruling, bar-council president Ragunath Kesavan met Prime
Minister Najib Razak on Thursday to discuss how to cool emotions. Says
Kesavan: "We need to get the Muslim and Christian leaders together. They
need to meet face to face and work out a compromise and not let this
thing escalate."
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