The Right to Say ‘God’ Divides a Diverse Nation

By admin-s Last updated Nov 4, 2014

Outside the country, the government has sought to cultivate an image of a modern, moderate Islamic state, where 60 percent of the population is Muslim, and minorities live harmoniously.

Thomas Fuller, New York Times

As the students knelt in a circle at a Christian kindergarten near the shores of the South China Sea, a 6-year-old girl in pigtails read out a chapter from a children’s Bible: “Sepuluh hukum dari Allah” — God’s Ten Commandments.

Technically, she broke the law.

According to a series of government orders and rulings by Malaysia’s Islamic councils, the word for God in the Malay language — “Allah” — is reserved for Muslims. Malay-language Bibles are banned everywhere except inside churches. State regulations ban a list of words, including Allah, in any non-Muslim context.

Malaysia, with its collage of ethnic groups and religions, has a long history of tensions over issues ranging from dietary differences to the economic preferences enshrined in Malaysian law for the Malay Muslim majority.

But there is probably no dispute more fundamental and more emotionally charged than who owns the word God.

“Honestly I think it’s nonsense,” said Belinda Buntot, the teacher in the kindergarten here on the northern tip of the island of Borneo. “Of course we use Allah. We can’t teach the kids without it.”

The government’s National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs deliberated on the issue of whether non-Muslims have the right to use the word Allah and issued a fatwa. “The conference decided that the word Allah is a sacred word specific only to the religion and followers of Islam and it cannot be used or made to be similar with religions other than Islam,” said the fatwa, which was posted on the government’s “e-fatwa” website.

Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, and Muslims are governed by Shariah, though Christians, Hindus and Buddhists make up sizable minorities. Outside the country, the government has sought to cultivate an image of a modern, moderate Islamic state, where 60 percent of the population is Muslim, and minorities live harmoniously.

But Christians, who make up 10 percent of the population, say the Allah ban is one of many signs that a conservative Islamic movement is steering an increasingly intolerant government policy.

In recent weeks, the religious authorities have barred Muslims from taking part in Halloween and scolded them for petting dogs, which the state Islamic authorities view as unclean.

The government’s Department of Islamic Development did not respond to a request to explain the official position on the Allah ban, but over the years the government has offered a number of reasons.

When the government first prohibited the “printing, publication, sale, issue, circulation or possession” of Malay-language Bibles in 1981, it said the books were “prejudicial to the national interest and security” of the country.

Islamic authorities have warned that Malay-language Bibles could be used for proselytizing Muslims, which is illegal in Malaysia.

The Department of Islamic Development argues that Allah is not a generic name for God but signifies “the religion of the person who uses it.”

“That is the reason why the usage needs to be monitored and preserved by the government in order to ensure that no one will be confused with the most exalted name,” the department says on its website.

Perhaps more than at any time in recent decades, Malaysia’s moderate voices are sounding an alarm.