Christmas greetings, the no-fuss Indonesian govt way

 

I was in Jakarta a few days ago. It’s a lovely city, busy and traffic-clogged as usual, but with some of the friendliest people on earth. I lived and worked there a while ago, and am always happy to return.

While being shuttled around on the back of an e-hailing motorcycle I came across a big sign on Sudirman Road, the city’s main thoroughfare. The ever-present jam kept me stationary long enough to snap a photo.

The sign certainly caught my attention. It shouldn’t – but I seemed to have forgotten much about everyday Indonesian things over the many years since I lived there.

The sign bore a Christmas and New Year greeting from the Indonesian government departments managing Christian and Catholic affairs, both of which are under the ministry of religious affairs.

It quoted the passage from Luke 2:14 in the Bible which, in Bahasa Indonesia, reads “Kemuliaan Bagi Allah dan Damai Sejahtera di Bumi”. That’s, of course, in Bahasa Indonesia.

The words are identical in Malay, but you’ll never see such a greeting in Malay here; you may see them in Sabah and Sarawak, but don’t bother bringing back anything physical bearing these words back to the Peninsula, or you’ll be in big trouble.

The issue is about the objection by many Malaysian Muslims to the use of the word “Allah” by Christians to refer to God.

It’s created a lot of ongoing heat and noise and the issue has been to the courts and back, though I doubt the matter is anywhere near settled.

The religious leaders of many Peninsular Muslims, including the many government or semi-government bodies tasked with managing various aspects of Islam, find the use of “Allah” to represent a non-Islamic god to be very objectionable.

Do I find it objectionable? If a hundred plus million Muslims in Indonesia don’t – and if even more Muslims across the Arabic-speaking world don’t – who am I to object?

I’d say any religious leaders who object to it would find it similarly difficult to justify it for the same reason. Their justification for rejecting it, however, is that it may mislead Muslims in some unspecified manner or ways not fully explained.

Either that or Peninsular Muslim leaders have trademarked that word, with its use prohibited without their express approval, and such approvals are never to be asked for and shall never be given.

Either way, why is that so? Here I roll out my usual two-pronged explanations.

First, the simple explanation. For many Malays, Islam is more than just a faith, but part of their identity, one they jealously guard. Being a Muslim is even a necessary prerequisite to identifying as a Malay according to our constitution.

Malaysian Muslims grow up with the identity that Allah is Our God and not just an Arabic word used throughout history among Arabic speakers of all faiths for God, regardless of what our Indonesian cousins think and do.

The jolt of hearing the word Allah used by non-Muslims is real and almost physical. It’s like being slapped by somebody, with the pain and especially the implications of disrespect that come with it.

That’s how strongly many Muslims feel about the matter, and that explains their reactions to it. It becomes an emotional matter that unfortunately gives rise to often irrational reactions.

Second – the complex answer, that this matter is made worse by the highly politicised nature of Islam in today’s Malaysia. Many religious leaders as well as the huge state and federal Islamic apparatus are busily “defending” Islam against insidious “attacks”, and the noise they create is deafening.

Often this “defence” involves making ever more pronouncements of what’s good or not, what’s permitted or not, and enthusiastically applying sanctions and punishments created through various state and federal ordinances and laws.

The use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims is very much at the front and centre of this “battle”.

Most of these leaders and organisations mean well, though what’s the point of having power if you don’t use it? Here a great opportunity presents itself to exercise power against the seemingly disrespectful, and possibly ill-willed, actions by the Christians in using the name of Our God for theirs.

What do we Muslims do to get out of these so-called battles? I don’t know but I do know all these noises hamper us from achieving our real objective – not the bullying of others but the creation of strong, confident Muslims who don’t see a ghost behind every word or act they hear or see.

I wouldn’t dare to tell the Indonesian Muslims that their faith is weak, or that they’re sleepwalking into an attack on the ummah just because they allow Christians to use “Allah” for their god. Perhaps, on the contrary, it’s because their faith is strong that allows them to do it.

This is certainly something to ponder during this festive season. Meanwhile, Merry Christmas to all our Christian friends, and to the many others who aren’t but do celebrate the festival as it is part of their culture and heritage.

And Happy Winter Solstice too, because apparently that is now a “thing”, with the added advantage that nobody is likely to be offended by it, whether in Indonesia or perhaps even in Malaysia!

Editor’s note: In English, the passage from Luke 2:14 reads: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (New King James Version) - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.