The AG issued a warning reminding everyone to observe, comply and adhere to the Court of Appeal ruling on the ‘Allah’ issue. And just as protests and sensible objections hit a cresendo, the Prime Minister and his UMNO-entourage suddenly are seen to be, what is widely now regarded as, backpedaling. Is it a Jonny-come-lately fear of a backlash or is it a well orchestrated UMNO-elections strategy? Never mind about the guranteed to remain speculative answers to this question for the time being. What is ridiculous, absurd and downright stupid is the fact that there now seems to be an Attorney General’s version, an UMNO version, political right wing version, and Muslim NGO’s version of the Court of Appeal ruling on the ‘Allah’ issue – all conflicting each other. World laughs as Najib & team rush to damage-control In the wake of public and global condemnation and concern on the Malaysian verdict that stops the Herald’s publication from using the ‘Allah’ word in their Bahasa Malaysia section of the Catholic newsprint, the government with its backpedaling is making a mockery of sound governance. First, by saying now that only the Herald is banned from using the word ‘Allah’ the government has further made itself look real foolish in the eyes of all right-thinking Malaysians and the global community of Muslims and non-Muslims. The Herald – like all similar publications meant for the communication of matters relating to their religion and religious practices, cannot be dictated as to how it should communicate such matters relating to their faith and its inherent teachings and traditions, especially so by those who are not of authority for a particular faith. Second, when you now say that East Malaysians can continue to use the ‘Allah’ word in their worship, propagation and instruction of faith as well as in publications including their Holy Book but not so their West Malaysian Catholic brothers and sisters, are you not dividing the Catholic Church along political parameters? Since when in the world did any political movement have that sanctioned power to interfere and dictate terms on matters of faith? Oh yes, Hitler did! But we are well past the atrocities of the Hitler regime, unless of course if you are saying that it has been resurrected here in Malaysia. Even the United Nations is very clear of this sacred notion of freedom, honor and right to practice one’s faith according to the dictates of that faith alone. Third, the Catholic publication is a medium used by the Catholic Church in Malaysia to update, inform and educate their faithful in both the Eastern and Western corridors of this nation. So when the government says that East Malaysians can continue to use the word ‘Allah’ but the Herald cannot use the same word, are you not in the same breath granting and at the same time denying Catholics their rights as enshrined in the Federal Constitution, the 10-point Agreement with Sabah and Sarawak and as well as the UN Declaration? Or is it a sinister move to split the Catholic Church into two classes – the privileged Catholics of East Malaysia verses the persecuted Catholics of West Malaysia? Fourth, by stating that the Home Minister can exercise his discretion, have the courts surrendered justice and injustice into the hands of one sole man? And so, just one man who is not the anointed leader of the Catholic Church will now determine how Catholics should call their God? And if that be the case, where do we then place the Holy See – the very Head of the Catholic Church that the Prime Minister of Malaysia flew all the way to register his due respect for? This is a classic case of a slap on the Catholic Church is a slap on the Papal Head. No? Fifth, how different are Catholics of East Malaysia and their fellow brethren in West Malaysia in so far as worship and faith and the rights to these go? It appears that Catholics using the word ‘Allah’ in East Malaysia is of no national security concern whereas the same does not hold true for West Malaysia. What kind of security mindedness is this all about? Sixth, the argument also seems to now border on print verses on-line justifications. It is a no-no if you print the word ‘Allah’ in your Bahasa Malaysia section of the Herald newspaper; but what if the Holy Book, the Bible, is uploaded on-line in the Bahasa Malaysia version? Never mind about having to worry about seeing the entire Bible published on-line. Have the Prime Minister and his cohort of enthusiastic leaders even considered this: What if the Catholic Church goes on-line with daily doses of the scriptures meant to guide and enrich their faithful in matters of the Gospel for everyday living in Bahasa Malaysia? And what if that happened not from the Catholic Church’s Malaysian headquarters in Kuala Lumpur but right out of the window of the Vatican? Seventh, in any Church service, worship is not restricted to merely reading the Holy Scriptures. The entire service comprising of hymns, prayers, homily and the receiving of the Holy Sacrament comprises a holistic experience of worship and faith-expression. So if the priest in his Bahasa Malaysia Sunday homily says ‘Allah’ in West Malaysia will special branch officers stalk and arrest him? Indeed, as the Head of the Catholic Church in Malaysia said, if this is not religious persecution then what is it? Full article: malaysia-chronicle/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=177902:allah-back-pedal-all-najib-achieved-is-hurt-the-christians--alarmed-the-muslim-world&Itemid=2#ixzz2iPY5GBmY Follow us: @MsiaChronicle on Twitter
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 01:44:52 +0000
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