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Monday, July 22, 2013

‘Allah’ is for Muslims, why fight over it?, asks Gerakan leader

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/uploads/articlestankengliang_twitter_allah_420_153_100.jpg 
(MM) - Kedah Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang dove into the "Allah" fray today, questioning the objective behind the tussle for the word, which he believes denotes the Muslim God.
The lawyer took to Twitter this afternoon to broach the topic at the centre of the protracted legal dispute that has threatened religious ties between Christians and Muslims here.
"As far I'm concern, 'Allah' is Muslim God. As non-Muslim, it's awkward if any1 ask me to refer my God as 'Allah'. So,why fight over the term?" he wrote on the microblogging site this afternoon.
The youth leader earned immediate flak for his opinion with civil liberties lawyer Syahredzan Johan tweeting in response: "Thank goodness this country isn't concerned with your concerns."
Tan later moved to explain his remarks in another posting, saying he was speaking in reference to east Malaysia, where "Allah" has been widely used for decades by Christians to refer to their God.
Bahasa Malaysia is the lingua franca of Malaysia's Bumiputera Christians, a majority of whom reside in Sabah and Sarawak. About 64 per cent of the Christians in Malaysia are Bumiputeras and Malay-speaking.
"My last tweet concerns West Malaysia," Tan tweeted. "If any issue to be raised on 'Allah' terminology, it should be specific only for East Malaysia."
The remark sparked even more criticisms from Twitter users as they disagreed with Tan's opinion.
"What are you. Many of sabahan sarwakian migrate to the east msia. How do you think we feels here??????????????????????????," @PriscillaMark retorted.
"N u wonder why the village idiots we call BN r losing more n more support daily. tosser!" @aaronk84169066 wrote.
"How can @tankengliang be so ignorant as to say that this is an ‘East Malaysian’ issue when for YEARS it was not us who raised the problem," @mauvemarionette said.
"Do u knw ur Kedah State Anthem has Allah in it. Must change d lyrics so tt non-Muslims like u can sing," @chookian17 pointed out.
"Is there a decree separating west n east msia?" another Twitter user @faceofftvshow asked.
The “Allah” row first erupted in 2008 when the Home Ministry threatened to revoke the Herald’s newspaper permit, prompting the Catholic Church to sue the government for violating its constitutional rights.
In 2009, the High Court stirred controversy when it ruled that the word was not the exclusive right of Muslims, and the Catholic Church’s newspaper, Herald, could publish it in its Bahasa Malaysia section, which caters to its Bumiputera congregation.
The Home Ministry has since filed an appeal on the matter, despite a 10-point solution mooted by the Najib Cabinet in 2011 that allowed the publication and distribution of the Malay-language Al-Kitab bibles which use the word "Allah".
The holy books were earlier impounded for using the word in its reference to the Christian God.
Two weeks ago on July 8, Malaysia’s Catholic Church filed an application to strike out the Home Ministry’s appeal. The matter is still pending in court.
In a statement yesterday, the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) urged the government to honour the 10-point solution to put an end to the "Allah" tussle, which has often been blamed for the continuous racial strife in the country.
The row has also ignited many fiery debates among religious groups and scholars, lawmakers, Muslim fundamentalists and non-Muslim groups, creating a deeper wedge between followers of Islam and Christianity here.
A few days ago, Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir warned of punishment for non-Muslims who dared to use the word in their holy books.
Earlier this year, Malay rights leader Datuk Ibrahim Ali suggested that the Malay-language bibles be burned for sporting the word "Allah".

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