Much ado over the name of God

"The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holders lack of rational conviction. Opinions in politics and religion are almost always held passionately." - Bertrand Russell (Sceptical Essays)

There are no complexities in the ‘Allah' issue except the simplicity of craven agendas of political parties desperate to hang on to power or desperate to claim power. As always, when it comes to Islam outrage is nearly always manufactured.

Only this time, after a period of cessation, the outrage was manufactured by the DAP. I have already discussed the politically inept manner in which the DAP chose to handle this issue through its party's Christmas day message.

The fact that the Selangor sultan has decided to intervene, thereby fostering the perception that Islam again is under siege (sic), points to the perilous endgame that Umno wishes to play and the opposition alliance (which should know better) seem intent on joining.

Umno watchers as opposed to partisan watchers I have talked to, agree that with the Selangor sultan (left in photo) entering the fray, it merely points to the declining influence of Prime Minister Najib Razak within Umno.

While the right-wing elements in his party continue to stir the religious and ethnic pot, Najib is making a spectacle of himself attempting to position himself as a moderate voice when it comes to religion and race. His various meetings with simpatico Christian (and others) religious heads and the disbursements to various non-Malay causes, has had little impact on a certain section of the electorate.

The conventional Umno wisdom is to take the hardline and non-Malay support be damned. What certain factions within Umno hope to achieve with the opportunity that the opposition has given them is to dethrone a lame duck prime minister and light the fire for an Islamic revival that they believe they can contain.

PAS never one to take its Islamic credentials lightly has gone and changed its moderate position (of allowing non-Muslims to use the word ‘Allah') into one of bizarre word play, which to be honest, characterises most edicts from this religious political party tenuously holding on to the middle ground.

Add to this quagmire, the PAS administration in Kedah have muddied the waters with their usual Islamic preoccupations with regards to how non-Muslims celebrate their festivities. All of which should make right-thinking Malaysians question PAS' commitment to the middle ground, not withstanding the total lack of political finesse of the DAP.
Instead of framing this issue for what it really is, one of freedom of speech or expression, what has happened is that the vested religious interest within Umno and Pakatan, have been calling the shots and politicising this as a "simple" issue of constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom.

Comedy of errors

It really is a comedy of errors with the Council of Churches stating that they intend to use the word ‘Allah' in defiance of the royal decree because of their rights enshrined in the Constitution.

What would have been a credible argument is the one the MCA put forward concerning the judgment on the use of the word ‘Allah' that I assumed was the whole point of initiating legal proceedings.

Or better yet reconsidered their (Council of Churches) stand to the so-called "compromise" of the 10-point solution as enunciated by minister in the Prime Minister's department Idris Jala (right) when this fiasco first broke out all the way back in 2011 with regards to the Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia bibles and was rejected by the youth division of CoC.

So as far as religious tensions are concerned, notwithstanding the usage of the word ‘Allah', the Umno state and the opposition forces in this country had more or less reached an "equitable" solution even if it was only a band-aid solution. So, what exactly is the problem?

There are numerous issues that involve non-Muslims that would hopefully be resolved permanently when a new supposedly multi-religious/ethnic coalition comes into power but until then we have to choose our battles wisely and compromise by way of band-aid solutions.

The only reason why we got this 10-point solution was due to the efforts of the opposition led mainly by the DAP. It was the perfect example of political parties chasing the votes of a certain section of a religiously diverse electorate.

There were criticism of this 10-point solution but overall it was a clean political victory for the forces of moderation in this country no matter which side of the political divide one belonged to. Then this Christmas, this ‘Allah' issue weaseled its way back into the discourse.

A cunning strategist would have used this 10-point solution as a gateway for bringing in other issues by zealously monitoring its implementation or the present regime's commitment to their solution. As it is, like most convenient political tools, it was forgotten in the rush for the next big scandal.

Political expediency 

The DAP had backtracked earlier claiming that Lim's statement was meant only for Christians in Sabah and Sarawak, which just goes to show you how political expediency trumps principle and finally after all this horse manure, Pakatan finally puts forward a unified front with Abdul Hadi Awang giving the coalition's final stand on the issue.

It would be constructive for Pakatan supporters to remember that Pakatan had already made this stand when the controversy first erupted but all this seems to have been forgotten when the DAP in a foolhardy move decided to pander to the Christian evangelical movement on Christmas.

Not that "freedom of religion" has anything to do with the ‘Allah' issue. Partisans, especially DAP apparatchiks, have gone out of their way to give etymological lectures on the word ‘Allah' and within those lectures there are enough historical distortions and cherry picking to fool the true believers that their religion (Christianity) is under siege here in Malaysia.

Of course Muslims, Christians and Jews have been killing each other (and themselves) for centuries in their God's name but never (as far as I can recall) because of the name of their God.

Of course, the non-Muslims have not had an easy time with the creeping Arabisation instigated by Umno. Moreover, the constant thorn in Umno's side is the fact that Sarawak and Sabah, thanks to the 20-point agreement, have been resisting the Umno-created Islamic hegemony that those in the Peninsular unfortunately have to contend with.

In a piece about Nurul Izzah Anwar (right) and the controversy that erupted over her remarks regarding conversion, Icommented on the rather queer fact that oppositional types love to define what a "true Muslim" is through their political/religious allegiance lens.

We get the same narrative here. A "true Muslim" (1) would not be ignorant of the historical/cultural usage of the word ‘Allah' here in Malaysia and (2) would be comfortable enough by non-Muslim usage.

As usual this true Muslim meme, clashes with reality when it comes to the acknowledging the diverse religious imperatives in this country and the compromises that have been made in the name of religious equilibrium.

Umno's outsourced thugs 

Meanwhile on Umno's side of the fence, obnoxious outsourced thugs continue the Umno narrative that Muslims (or should that be Malay Muslims) would be confused by the indiscriminate use of the word ‘Allah'.

What I find contemptible of this ploy is that it is disrespectful to Muslims all over the world. You want to tarnish the reputation of the Islam you are propagating by all means go ahead, but Muslim all over the world are not so easily confused.

They still hold steady to their faith in the face of American bombs. They hold steady to their faith in the face of the brutality that is inflicted on them by their own Muslim regimes. They still hold on to their faith in the face of changing values within the larger culturally diverse communities they immigrate into.

Apparently, the only easily confused Muslims are those living in Malaysia.

We are moving into the final dash of an election that would be a turning point in the history of Malaysia. If you think that "controversies" such as these do not have an effect on voting patterns, you are sorely mistaken. Do not make the mistake of coddling a specific voter demographic because you assume everyone else will fall into line.

The opposition, of which the DAP is the most important secular component (or at least it should be), cannot afford such slip-ups. As Saturday's rally confirmed, the opposition in this country is a complex mix of diverse interest united in its goal of changing stewardship of this country.

Amongst a certain section of the electorate, there is this sincere belief that Pakatan with all its contradictions is the best chance this country has. This belief should neither be taken for granted nor be manipulated for shallow divisional interests.

It is no longer amateur hour in oppositional politics.

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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy.