Slow death of race relations in Malaysia

The entire 'Allah' episode was all about Putrajaya vs the Catholic Church...the Herald was merely collateral damage

COMMENT

While Muslim bigots in the country are rejoicing that Putrajaya has finally got its say in denying the Catholic Church the use of the word ‘Allah’, the nation is haemorrhaging as racial ties in Malaysia tumble for the worse.

On Monday, the Court of Appeal brought smiles to the federal government through its judgement that the Catholic Church can no longer use the word ‘Allah’ when referring to God in the Bahasa Malaysia section of its weekly newspaper, the Herald.

As pleased the government may be, the non-Malays while not shocked by the court ruling are however dumbstruck at the audacity of the Barisan Nasional government to place three Malay judges, all who denied the Catholic Church any right over the word ‘Allah’ – because Putrajaya wanted it to be so.

It was irrelevant to the central government that having all-Malay judges presiding over the case was clearly a conflict of interest; the goal was to ‘put the non-Malays’ in their place by refusing them the right over ‘Allah’.

A miserable situation when the government of the day determines the rights of the minority to worship by arm-twisting the judiciary to come to its rescue.

The decision to block The Herald from using Allah’s name was a unanimous decision made by Zawawi Salleh, Mohamed Apandi Ali and Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim.

At the end of the day, the ‘no Allah for the Herald’ was not a case of justice prevailing but rather a sordid scenario where the country’s judiciary endures yet another beating, this time for the worse.

While Apandi justified the state and the people’s welfare as the reason for the unanimous decision, he dismissed the fact that it was just as important for the court to uphold the truth as seen from the perspective of history.

“It is our common finding that the name Allah was not an integral part of the Christian faith and practice. Such usage if allowed will enviably cause confusion within the community,” said Apandi.

But where is the confusion? And who according to Apandi is or will be dazed over the entire episode of ‘denying Catholics the use over Allah’?

Court decision politically motivated

The ‘Allah’ row erupted in early 2009 when the Home Ministry threatened to revoke the Herald’s permit for using the word Allah to refer to God. This prompted the Catholic Church to sue the government for violating its constitutional rights.

On Dec 31, 2009, the High Court allowed the church’s judicial review application and lifted the Home Minister’s ban on the use of the word in the Herald. Judge Lau Bee Lan said the church had a constitutional right to use the word Allah in its newspaper on the grounds that religions other than Islam can be practised in peace and harmony.

When Lau had no problem ‘understanding’ that the church did not commit any crime in using the word ‘Allah’, how did the three Malay judges at the Court Appeal get ‘confused’?

It was not only the Court of Appeal that led to the miscarriage of justice. Malay extremists who refuse to accept that ‘Allah’ is not exclusive to Muslims are behaving in just as shameful a manner.

Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) second vice president (II) Abdul Rahman Md Dali even accused Christians of “constantly hatching plots to separate Islam from the Muslims”.

Isma president Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman went so far as to condemn the Christians, telling them to get out of the country if they could not accept the sovereignty of Islam and the king in Malaysia.

Were the nation’s leaders perturbed by such display of racist pyrotechnics? They never did and rest assured they never will.

“Stop any effort to harm racial harmony because the Muslims in this country will fight against the evil intentions of any party that seeks to threaten their future,” Zaik had threatened the Christians.

Meanwhile, Malay-rights wing Perkasa was quick to retort that ‘it was back to life as usual’ for all after the court made the verdict and that Perkasa considered the case closed.

Perkasa founder and head Ibrahim Ali said he was ‘amazed’ at the court’s decision and that people should just ‘get on with life’.

Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia too jumped on the ‘condemn Christians’ bandwagon, saying the court verdict was a gift to the Muslims as they celebrated Aidiladha on Tuesday.

Awang Selamat, the pseudonym for Utusan’s collective editorial team, said the decision also recognised the efforts made by those who defended the purity of the name Allah.

“This case must be an example to others not to jeopardise the supremacy of Islam as any of such attempts would affect the harmonious relationship between other races and religions in the country,” said Awang Selamat.

Meanwhile, former Johor mufti Mohd Nooh Gadut claimed that Muslims who attempted to question the ‘Allah’ verdict risked being infidels or even apostates.

Uncalled for threats and harassment

If Perkasa thinks it knows what is in the best interest of the non-Malays, it is very wrong. Urging the authorities to do what it takes to make sure the word ‘Allah’ is never again used by non-Muslims surely does not make Ibrahim a ‘kin’ of the non-Malays as he claims he wants to be.

Had the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of The Herald, how would the Umno bigots, Putrajaya, Perkasa, etc., have responded? Would there still be peace and order in the country?

Despite one too many clarifications detailing the right of the non-Malays to use the word ‘Allah’, the BN government turned a deaf ear and it made sure the Court of Appeal did the same.

The uncalled for threats and harassment by extremist Malays like Abdullah Zaik and Ibrahim Ali among others have made it clear that Malaysia can no long brag about its ‘unity in diversity’.

The slow and painful death of race relations in Malaysia was evident when Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin time and again exhibited his ethnic partisanship, always going the extra mile in favour of the Malays.

In 2011, Muhyiddin scrapped the use of English for science and mathematics (PPSMI) in schools, saying no negotiations on this issue would be entertained.

The DPM who also wears the hat of Education Minister and that of Umno deputy president had two years ago warned a Catholic leaders not to debate Article 153 of the Federal Constitution.

National Evangelical Christian Fellowship chairperson Eu Hong Seng had said that Article 153 of the Federal Constitution allowed the Malays to bully other Malaysians.

Eu then said Article 153 ought to cover the rights of all Malaysians, not just the Malays and the natives of Sarawak and Sabah.“When we talk of the rights of only one group, if I may suggest, that is bullying,” Eu declared.

Where then is the ‘confusion’, if any, when it comes Islam? The entire ‘Allah’ episode was all about Putrajaya vs the Catholic church, the Herald was merely collateral damage.

Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist.