Release the Christian Bibles
YB DOMINQUE NG to government
8th Dec., 2010.
The High Court ruled that the Catholic church had a constitutional right to publish the word “Allah” in the Bahasa Malaysia edition of its Herald newspaper.
Following a court decision on 31st December 2009 to allow use of the word Allah by the Catholic newsletter, Herald, YB Dominique Ng, the ADUN for Padungan, has called on government to respect the ruling. “The Government should now act accordingly to demonstrate its recognition and respect for a tolerant multicultural Malaysia. “
He refers to the reported confiscation in Kuching on September 15th 2009 by Government of 15,000 imported copies of Bibles bearing the word ALLAH . He asks the government to explain why it may not now release all of them to the churches and individuals concerned.
The Leader of Opposition, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, had also quoted an influential world Islamic cleric, Sheihk Dr.Yusof Al Qaradawi, as saying that there is no problem with Christians referring to God as Allah.
Tok Guru Nik Aziz, the PAS Menteri Besar of Kelantan had before the court ruling said that he did not oppose the Catholic Herald using the word ALLAH.
YB Ng praised PAS, the Islamist partner in Pakatan Rakyat, in promptly deciding to back the use of the word Allah by Catholics. The party has just issued a statement saying that “it is consistent with the federal Constitution and Islamic principles”and that “based on Islamic principles, the use of the word Allah by the people of the Abrahamic faiths such as Christianity and Judaism, is acceptable” .
“PAS strongly objects to any aggressive and provocative approach that can lead to tension in society,” it is quoted.
Ng said, “that leading Muslim clerics and so many Malaysian Muslims are so religiously principled in their stand in sharing the use of the term ALLAH, is indeed a defining moment in Malaysian communal relations. It is indeed heart-warming. This is a most positive national unity development which the Barisan National would be well advised to embrace rather than resist through another court challenge and thus seeming to encourage other acts stoking social tension.”
“ This is indeed a litmus test of 1Malaysia. The Prime Minister should let Malaysians be ONE in the belief of God and Allah, a ONENESS which will be promoted using a shared term ALLAH, blessed be His Name ! ”
“With the policy statement by PAS, the ball is now in the court of UMNO and Barisan National, to show it can measure closer to the religious understanding and tolerance shown by PAS and Pakatan Rakyat. It is the duty of all political parties to show leadership at this moment in a matter of national harmony, and not just for Pakatan Rakyat parties.”
Ng also referred to a few other previous instances of confiscation of Christian religious articles by government, both in KL and in Kuching, on the grounds that they contain the word ALLAH. A Sarawak Melanau Christian had gone to the court in KL to try claim back his confiscated Christian DVDs.
“ Sarawak Government should act positively and reassure all Sarawak Christian of their rights under the Malaysia Constitution and the Spirit of the Malaysia Agreement,” says Ng. Ng noted that over 40% of the people of Sarawak are Christians. “Sarawak Government owes it to Christians to immediately help expedite the release of confiscated religious articles to them as the first step,” says Ng.
- January 6th
Everyone has the right to form an opinion. I do not know why our dayak ministers are silent on the issue? Are they pagans?
Christian book contain the word ALLAH , to muslim in Sarawak this wasn’t a problem ,nothing very strange for some family in Sarawak consisted of many different believe Christian,,Islam,Hindu, Buldah etc…and they live happily in harmony . I think the people in Sarawak has a better understanding of their religion then the lunatic in Semanjung.
They better join our Sunday school classes.
they not pagan,when thing settle down they will turn on the speaker again as usual.
The following quote from a fairly recent article in the New Straits Times (15/1/2010) bothers me:
“The government has no issue with the word “Allah” being used by Christians in Sabah and Sarawak.
This is because the natives in the two states have traditionally been using “Allah” in their prayers and religious services and Muslims there were accustomed to the practice, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz was quoted as saying in The Borneo Post yesterday.
“Christians in Sarawak and Sabah need not worry over this issue because it is a common tradition there. I have been to an Iban church service and I heard the word ‘Allah’ used there,” he said.
Nazri, however, said “Allah” was not allowed to be used in churches in Peninsular Malaysia and so Christians from Sabah and Sarawak had to respect that even when they are in the peninsula.
Asked why there were two sets of rules on the usage of the word “Allah” in the nation, he pointed out that this was not a unique practice as Malaysia also has two sets of laws on other matters, citing the syariah court and the civil court as an example.
He said the situation in the peninsula was different as “Allah” was only introduced into Christian worship and publications a few years ago.”
It bothers me because this NST article is not really letting people in on the truth is it if the situation facing people in Sarawak, particularly indigenous Christians, is quite a different story to what this article has alluded to, considering Bibles were actually confiscated by the Sarawak government because of the language issue??!!! What an utter contradiction!!! If the confiscation were in KL then there might be some show of consistency here but no it wasn’t - it was in Kuching!!! There s some kind of double standard in operation here by the looks of things when you compare the reality of the confiscation to the picture presented by the NST article. No wonder the indigenous Christian community has a trying time engaged in battles with the govt over other issues affecting it’s very livelihood - just take the example of the anti-logging blockades not all that long ago.
This only goes to show that the real issue here is that no other culture, Muslim or otherwise has the right to control Christians in a manner that inhibits us from practising our culture, irrespective of whether we are in Sarawak, Sabah or on the peninsula, or anywhere else for that matter! The truth is that the Christian community should be able to direct its own affairs as every other community should be able to so long as it doesn’t impinge on the equal cultural rights of other communities when the practicing of those rights is not a violation of basic rights to life in general. What I am also saying is that no other community is telling the Muslim community that it is not allowed to address God in the way it sees fit - every other community agrees that the Islamic culture has every right to address the Creator in whatever language it desires to BUT equally true is this: the Islamic community does not have the right to impose sanctions on non-Islamic communities regarding these communities’ choice of tongue they use when referring to matters of spirituality.
What really incenses my desire to see this prohibition mentality done away with once and for all is the piece of info that fits into this picture somewhere which keeps on saying that there exists a regulation which forbids bookstores from stocking materials published in Bahasa Melayu that either promote the values of Christian culture or support it in some way shape or form. I am not too sure how far this extends but I have also been made aware that it extends to CD’s as well!!! This kind of regulation is absolutely ridiculous as it impinges on fundamental cultural freedoms. The arguments that I have heard which form part (again exactly how much I cannot verify) of the basis for this stupid ploy is that whoever brought this regulation into force said that these materials should only be available in English!!!!! That is totally unfair and wrong and what’s more is it does not have harmony with Christian values or cultural sensibilities. Why restrict Christian culture publications to one language?? After all English is no more Christianity’s native language than is Bahasa Melayu! Actually the indigenous Christian language is a variation of Aramaic – and perhaps native language recognition can also be extended to those dialects in Christian communities which have held strongly to the original traditions and values as evident Biblically, eg. Jah Hut, Kalabakan Temoq, Lotud, Iban Sebuyau, Mah Meri and the list goes on. No bureaucratic body has the right to tell a particular cultural group how to practice its culture, particularly when this practice does nothing to harm the welfare of other coexistent cultures and nor do they even have the right to tell the supporters of this cultural group what or what not to do as regards such matters.
Sarawak Government should act positively and reassure all Sarawak Christian of their rights under the Malaysia Constitution and the Spirit of the Malaysia Agreement,” says Ng.
Thus KL/Putrajaya moves from political and economic neo-colonialism to cultural imperialsim, at a level unprecendented in Malaysian history.
Nazri’s 2Malaysia solution is flawed. Sarawak/Sabah Christians would be able to carry their Bibles anywhere around the world, even in communist countries, but not to
the States of Peninsular Malaysia.
Hidup 1Malaysia, they still brag unashamedly !
Similarly, any Indonesian or Arab Christian would be able to carry their Bibles anywhere around the world, except to
the States of Peninsular Malaysia.
Hidup 1Malaysia, Truly Unique thanks to UMNO!