Copies of The Herald, we should recall, is neither sold, available, nor is it even of much demand, outside Catholic circles. But the fear that pervades common understandings of this controversy has obscured that fact. Now the case is seen as being about whether Malaysian Christians can even use the word Allah in the first place. Gone are the basic truths of the matter: that the majority of Christians in Malaysia are in fact Bumiputeras, and that services in Bahasa evoking words like Malaikat, Iman and Rasul have been held for hundreds of years (even in Churches in the Peninsula) without much panic until now. Honest answers to such questions demand serious self-criticism, namely on the flaws with which Islam has been represented and taught (and of course politicised) to Malays over the decades, where only conformity and blind obedience have been encouraged. The conversion fear is ironic, sadly, in how it only reflects the very weakness of its proponents. The issue has thus transcended far beyond the court case. It just might be that we have yet to see the worst of it. The “Kalimah Allah” controversy was recently described during a Friday sermon, scripted by Jakim no less, as a “perjuangan suci”. Millions of children were among the audience that day. Very well said. We should all be concerned, about this consternation around faith, language and conversion.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 03:37:46 +0000
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