Despite a Molotov cocktail attack against a church in Penang and a Court of Appeal ruling against using the word 'Allah', Christians from Sabah and Sarawak who live in the peninsula are sticking to the word 'Allah'. – The Malaysian Insider pic, February 2, 2014.As the “Allah” row rages, Sabah and Sarawak folk, fed up with Putrajaya's broken promises, are resolute that they would defy any prohibition on their right to use the word in their worship.
They also hit out at Datuk Seri Idris Jala for allegedly betraying Christians from Sabah and Sarawak and who had remained silent on the issue.
Jala was instrumental in the Najib administration crafting a 10-point solution which was signed in 2011.
Several of them who were interviewed by The Malaysian Insider over the weekend said whatever the court decision on the Catholic weekly Herald or the outcome on the debate on the validity of the 10-point solution, Sabahans and Sarawakians living in peninsula would not be cowed.
Vivian, 29, who belongs to the Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) denomination, said "Allah" was already in their hearts.
Speaking in Bahasa Malaysia, she said they could burn the Alkitab, but when she praised God or sought his favour, she would call on "Allah".
"Dia orang tak boleh bakar hati dan lidah kita.(They cannot burn our hearts or tongues").
Of Jala, the mother of three said, "Dia mengkhianati kita (he betrayed us)."
Vivian, a Dusun Rungus from Tarampuli, Sabah, said her husband, an Indonesian Muslim, was so troubled with what was happening in Malaysia that he decided to go back home to convert to Christianity.
"My husband asked me, ‘what kind of country is this? Even in Indonesia we don't have this problem’.”
She said her husband had converted as he was afraid the Malaysian authorities might fault him if they found out he was married to a Christian.
"This is how ridiculous the situation has become," said the sales executive.
Ignatius, a Roman Catholic from Kuching, who came here looking for a job 20 years ago, said his children attended national schools in Kuala Lumpur where they are taught in Malay.
He said although both he and his wife spoke Bidayuh, they conversed in Malay with their children.
"When you stop us from using ‘Allah’, what happens to my faith, the faith of my children?
He also rubbished claims by certain political leaders that the insistence by Christians on using the word was a ploy to convert Muslims.
"That is a joke. Go to our villages and ask our ancestors what language we have been using to pray since hundreds of years ago, it’s not hard to find out," he said.
Ignatius said that although Jesus taught his people to turn the other cheek, he was not ready to back down on his right to call God "Allah".
"If we give in to this, what’s next? They will probably claim 'Tuhan' as their exclusive word, which is why we have to stand firm on our rights."
His friend, Bartholomew, from Serian, Sarawak, agreed, saying Christians prayed in private and not in the open.
He said Putrajaya was treating Sabahans and Sarawakians like illegals when they crossed over to the peninsula.
"How else can you explain that we are free to use the word when we are in Sarawak but not here? It’s like we are illegals here without rights."
Bartholomew said he refused to be bound by any court ruling.
"Kalau mahkamah tertinggi cakap tak boleh guna, tak kan kita nak nafi ‘Allah’," he said in Malay. (Even if the court says cannot, are we supposed to deny God?)
Bartholomew said that the interpretation by certain ministers in the past that the Herald case ruling was not applicable to Sabah and Sarawak was equally illogical.
"Do they realise we are one country under one Parliament?”
Ignatius agreed with his long-time friend and fellow church leader, adding that whatever the court ruling on the “Allah” case, the Sabahans and Sarawakians in his parish would continue to worship in Bahasa Malaysia using “Allah”.
Alfonse from SIB in Petaling Jaya, agreed, saying that Christians should be allowed to worship freely in private.
"We pray in private in our premises. No matter what the government says, I feel we should just continue to worship the way we have done since hundreds of years," said the 42-year-old Dusun from Kuching.
Ignatius also dismissed the latest statement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak that state enactments prohibiting the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims superseded the 10-point solution.
"Most state songs have the word ‘Allah’, so non-Muslims should not sing it. Is that logical?
"We need answers now, not more impositions and restrictions," he added.
Another church leader, identified only as SK, who coordinates with Ignatius and Bartholomew to facilitate the prayer and sacramental needs of the BM-speaking community at their parish, has vowed to be a defender of Christianity.
"I am fed up of this issue and the way Christians are being portrayed.
"So in the last two years, I've been working on defending my religion after studying the Quran for the last seven years," he said.
SK added that the “Allah” issue was not political, but about "ketuanan Melayu" (Malay supremacy).
"Their mentality is, I'm Malay, this is my country, my land, I fix the rules, if you don't like it get out, that's their favourite phrase now."
SK, a Melanau from Kuching, added that he felt sorry for Muslims in the peninsula who were being brainwashed into thinking the “Allah” issue was about conversion.
"We have no intention to force people to embrace Christianity."
SK said masses and prayer sessions in Sarawak were conducted in Malay as it was the unifying language.
"In any village,there would be Bidayuh, Iban, Melanau and other tribes, which all speak in their native languages, but when they go to church, the language of communication is Malay."
Yet, as the gap between race and religion grows wider in the peninsula, it is heartening to note that a group of Muslims held a banner at the ordination of Catholic Bishop Richard Ng in Miri on Saturday morning which read "Tahniah Bishop Ng ‘Allah’ for All".
In the 1980s, several states and their Muslim fatwa committees passed laws forbidding the use of the word “Allah” and several Arabic terms by non-Muslims.
These include the 1988 Selangor enactment and the 1986 decree by the National Fatwa Council.
However, these laws were not widely enforced until 2008 when the Home Ministry banned the Herald from using the term in the Bahasa Malaysia section of the publication.
The term is used by Christians who worship in Bahasa Malaysia and Iban, such as those in Sabah and Sarawak.
Two-thirds of Malaysia's 2.9 million Christians are from Sabah and Sarawak. The Herald won a High Court decision in January 2009 that overturned the Home Ministry's ban.
The Court of Appeal, however, overturned that decision in 2013, saying that the word was not integral to Christianity.
The church is appealing the decision.
The 10-point solution was inked just before the Sarawak elections in 2011.
However, the raid by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) on the Bible Society of Malaysia early this year, raised the validity of the 10-point solution in states with laws that expressively forbid the use of the term “Allah”.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.