bobjots : redux

Update

I have just been informed that Archbishop Murphy Pakiam will be declining the invitation to participate in the dialogue as he does not want to make a public statement about this at the moment. He will be replaced by Eddin Khoo, a social activist and scholar on religion. Personally I am extremely disappointed at this lost opportunity.

The current controversy over the use of “Allah” as a legitimate translation for God by non-Muslims in Malaysia has been receiving significant coverage in the international media. A sampling of how the international media has been covering this can be seen here:

• Malaysian court rules non-Muslims may call God Allah
  BBC News, Thursday, 31 December 2009
• Malaysian court rules Christians can use ‘Allah’
  Washington Post/AP, Thursday, 31 December 2009
• ‘Allah’ Ruling May Challenge Malaysia
  Wall Street Journal, Saturday, 2 January 2010
• Malaysian govt to appeal ‘Allah’ ruling: minister
  AFP, Monday, 4 January 2010
• Q+A – What’s next in Malaysia’s Allah row?
  Reuters, Tuesday, 5 January 2010

While generally factual in their reporting, one glaringly dangerous stereotype is a common factor in the reports referenced above – that this controversy is another manifestation of inter-ethnic tensions in Malaysia and that the Christian community in Malaysia comprises only of the minority ethnic Chinese and Indians.

The statistical fact is that the majority of the Christian community in Malaysia are actually composed of Malay speaking indigenous communities. The breakdown, if one were to use the Malaysian Government’s own Census Report from 2000 would be:

And it would be the Malay speaking indigenous Christians that would end up being victimised should the High Court decision on this matter be overturned. To complicate matters, Sikh adherents who also make up a significant religious minority in Malaysia would be caught in a quandary since their Scriptures in the original language refer to God as Allah.

Of course, not everybody is making this mistake. At least the Christian Science Monitor correctly observed that a “sizable number of ethnic Malays (sic) on Borneo are Christian” while a “large portion of the country’s ethnic-Chinese minority are Christians as well, with a smaller group of its ethnic-Indian population adhering to the faith”.

The local mass media is of course doing nobody a favour by ignoring this fact and seeking only Christian opinions from West Malaysian Christians who:

1. are not a majority representative of the Christian community in Malaysia;
2. are primarily descendents of Chinese and Indian immigrants;
3. generally use vernacular languages or English in their Christian worship; and
4. generally do not use the Malay language in most social settings.

I have speculated in previous posts based on anecdotal encounters that the minimal use of the Malay language among West Malaysian Christians could be due to our own cultural and linguistic arrogance – something that is now coming full circle to bite us in our collective derrieres.

A lot has been said both by supporters and detractors of the ban on this issue. My main bone of contention with the supporters of the ban is that there is an presumption that non-Muslims must conform to Muslim theology and worldview when it comes to the use of the term Allah. It would appear that the only compromise some would be willing to accept when it comes to Christians using Allah as the Malay translation for God is if Christians were to abandon their concept of the trinitarian unity of God and embrace the Muslim concept of God’s unity.

As a Christian myself from the Protestant tradition, my tongue-in-cheek response would be that if one were to consider that we already have issues with the Magisterium in the Vatican to determine our theology and faith practices, would one realistically expect us to have less issues if it was Putrajaya or the National Fatwa Council doing the same?

I have addressed this issue a number of times in this blog and my opinion has generally remained unchanged (although I have to keep an eye on myself as I discern a slant towards a bit of hardline obstinacy growing within). The Micah Mandate has also covered this issue quite a bit, both from an anecdotal as well as an academic angle.

The latest posts by Dr. Ng Kam Weng also warrants a good read, although it would really be preaching to the converted unless those pieces were written in Malay as well:

• Translating the Names of God: Recent experience from Indonesia and Malaysia
  Krisis & Praxis, 5 January 2010
• Why It is Not Possible to Substitute Allah with Tuhan in Bible Translation
  Krisis & Praxis, 5 January 2010

A dialogue is being organised on <strike>10</strike> 11  January 2009 by the University of Malaya Muslim Students Society on this issue. Details are as follows:

Allah: Siapa yang Punya?
Organised by Free Public Forum and Persatuan Mahasiswa Islam Universiti Malaya

Panelists

• YB Khalid Samad
  - Member of Parliament for Shah Alam
• Eddin Khoo
  - Social Activist & Religious Researcher
• Dr. Asri Zainal Abidin
  - Former Mufti of Perlis
• Dr. Mohd Farid Mohd Shahran
  - Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, International Islamic University

Monday, 11 January 2010
7:45pm – 10:30pm

Kuala Lumpur & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH)
Jln Maharajalela
50150 Kuala Lumpur

(location map)

This is probably the best approach forward. Rather than continue to find ways to widen the cleavage, it would make sense to actually use this as an opportunity to encourage dialogue and mutual understanding.

Nonetheless, I’ll be monitoring closely how this drama develops further and solicit for prayers and intercession from friends both at home and abroad that the schemes of those who seek to plant discord and stoke violence be frustrated.

And on a somewhat related note, I got a reality check when I received this:

RT @lil_ms_d: While we battle over ‘Allah’ Christian Orang Asli find their electricity cut off in their church: http://tinyurl.com/y8laaw8

How’s that for an ouch moment?