Amidst all the remarks regarding the use of word “Allah”, one remark stood out the most for me (in bold below):
…
Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said such incidents might have been avoided from the beginning if there had been a culture of understanding, tolerance and moderation.
The Deputy Prime Minister said he had been receiving quite a number of messages from his Christian friends from Sabah and Sarawak over the issue.
“They say the things that had happened would not have happened in the first instance if they, the Christians, had just said, we are not going to use the word Allah,” he said.
Muhyiddin noted that this was because in Malaysia and all Muslim countries, Allah was the only God for Muslims.
…
Source here.
What a load of C.R.A.P.
For one thing, I bet Indonesia Christians don’t get into hot soup for using the word “Allah” (refer here) so was Muhyiddin right in saying that the world’s largest Muslim state is wrong in its legal stand on this word? If so, perhaps he too feels that the Indon government should grant exclusive use of the word to only Muslims. A bit difficult considering that Bahasa Indonesia is spoken by Muslims and Christians alike. In fact, many only speak nothing else but Indonesian.
But wait, I thought Allah in English, Malay, Indon and all referred to the same God – since when did God in the Christian faith morphed into a different diety in Islam?
Perhaps tomorrow he’ll come up saying that he was misquoted. B.A.L.O.N.E.Y!
For people who think that Christians should cave beneath the pressure, think again. This is not a religious matter anymore but one that revolves around freedom of religion and freedom of speech. If one group of people is banned from using one word, what is to stop the government from simply banning people from using a whole lot more words?
This is the kind of thing that gets on people’s nerves. This is the kind of stuff that shows the world how stupid Malaysian leaders and politicians are.
Y’know, my in-laws and every other French who is aware of the Altantuya case or is politically knowledgeable thinks that it’s a laughing joke that a man alleged to be corrupt is now the Prime Minister of a country. Now add this sham of a deputy prime minister who is not just ignorant but religiously prejudicial (and open about it) to the list.
And how did he come to be Deputy Prime Minister? Because Malaysians voted his party in during the last elections. WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU PEOPLE THINKING?
*grrrr*
Er… Mabel.. I’m sorry to say this (as in really really sorry cos it makes me sad too ) but at least one state is already saying that Melaka has made 32 words exclusive to Islam/Muslims. Amongst them, the A word of course, and also more commonly used words like nabi, syariah, ibadat, etc. My BM is a little rusty but for most of these words, I cannot think of BM alternatives, so what are BM speakers expected to use?
Mabel Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
It sounds like they are trying to say that Orang Asli (of whom some are Christians and prefer speaking Malay) should become Muslims leh. This all ties with the stupid clause in the constitution which ties Bumis to Malays to Islam and so forth. =.=
Oh, and can I also encourage you to register as a voter if you have not already done so, and cross the broder during the next elections, and vote? I will be registering the next time I am in Kl, and will definitely vote if I am back home. I was home during the last elections, and although I tried to register before the elections, I was told I could not
So I could not vote (for the opposition!)
Mabel Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
I’m actually a registered voter and found out that I couldn’t vote unless I fly back since I’m not a civil servant or a student – which is very different from my HB who could actually partake in the French electoral while he was in Singapore. So I got even more angry. To fly back just to vote is great when you’re in Singapore but I was in Switzerland and they only fix election dates at the last minute. =.=