i had actually decided not to blog on the herald-allah controversy anymore but i can’t help myself when i read what ktemoc had to say. i need to respond to his post. instead of responding at the comments section of his post, since it will be long, i am responding it here.

I must ask the publishers and editors of the Herald why they had to use the ‘Allah’ word when an alternative and more commonly used word ‘Tuhan’ exists?

because ALLAH does not belongs to the muslim exclusively. herald do use tuhan too but sometimes in some context, ALLAH has to be used. i believe somewhere (sorry i forgot and can’t dig it out) herald or some bloggers had explained about its usage of ALLAH and tuhan.

No doubt the Christians supporters will refer to the Iban Bible’s use of a form of A-word, but is the Iban Bible a staple reference for Malaysians Christians in general? The use of the Iban Bible is peculiar and limited to one particular community, such that the PM has allowed its continued reference to the A-word.

but it is not only the iban bible that has used ALLAH. other malay language bibles too, and ALLAH had been used by the chrisitans in sabah and sarawak for a long long time, as this writer wrote.

But not so in Bahasa, where the readership could embrace the Malays and worst of all, its use reaching the eyes of the PAS political propagandists.

oh you mean when old herald is sold to the paper man or sent for recycling? or when old herald is used to wrap the bungkus of nasi lemak/kandar or roti canai? oh horror! now you are giving idea to the gomen that next they might give a ruling that catholics after reading herald, must burn the herald! danger alert! if herald somehow or other land in the hands of some malays, and they read the word ALLAH… swooshh!!… they will have a sudden urge to be a christian!

Indeed I question the sincerity of the Herald publishers and editors in insisting on using a word that is not regularly used by Malaysian Christians. If there is no sinister proselytising intent, then why persist obdurately in wanting to use it?

excuse me, my dear, are you living bawah tempurung? malaysian christians in sabah and sarawak had been using ALLAH all the while… many many years back. the herald’s bahasa section caters mainly to the catholics in sabah and sarawak.

We may not like what UMNO is doing with its Islamist agenda, but that doesn’t mean we ourselves cannot be fair (standing above the grubby gutter religious politics of UMNO and PAS) and question the true intent and sincerity of the Herald. We shouldn’t blindly take the side of the Herald just to spite or merely oppose UMNO (or the Muslims).

but are you being fair to straight away form an opinion that herald has bad intention in using ALLAH? (when earlier you mentioned you wanted to ask herald’s editor/publisher). this coming esp. from a non catholic and non muslim (and one who is not in the country too!). question the intent and sincerity yes, but can’t you give herald the benefit of doubt instead of jumping to conclusion that herald has bad intentions?

anyway, the herald is a catholic publication. i am a catholic. i had been reading the herald for years and lately from last year onwards i had been contributing articles to herald (and don’t forget i work for the church too) – i can safely say herald’s use of ALLAH has nothing to do with proselytising at all. of course i expect people not to believe me. of course i expect people to say i am bias because of that – being catholic and working for the church – i tend to side herald. oh well no point for me to say no no, that’s not true, right? so… whatever.

i really wonder, how you of all people, can think that herald has bad intention (esp. to proselytisise) in using ALLAH. i understand if people like fatima idris (malaysiakini writer) and recently arbibi ashoy (malaysiakin writer too) have that kind of shallow thinking. when i first read about fatima saying herald’s use of ALLAH is to proselytisise, my first reaction was to go LOL!

first of all herald are only distributed to churches – how will muslims get hold of them? secondly even if they get hold of them, are you insulting them that just by reading/seeing the word ALLAH, they will turn away from their own faith, islam, and become christian? that was why i laughed when i first read fatima wrote about herald trying to proselytise muslims).

and no, we use ALLAH a lot is not because the arab christians are using it but ALLAH appears in the indonesian bible, the bible which our catholic church uses (since we can’t have our own ‘malaysian BM’ bible!). most of our publication we will quote from the bible, and since the bible has ALLAH in it, naturally we use ALLAH.

(btw i have a very old church song book in bahasa and many of the songs there use ALLAH)

But I definitely do not support the Herald’s whining, wailing and whinging about its right to use the A-word to refer to the Christian God. I am not interested in supporting its selfish agenda. I want to concentrate on publicising the BN’s corruption, cronyism and crimes rather than the Church’s recruiting drive, by stealth.

whining, wailing and whinging? it looks like you are the one whining wailing and whinging that herald has bad intention lah, trying to proselytisise lah. the only thing herald did was to file a writ of summons to use ALLAH – was that whining, wailing and whinging?

selfish agenda? how do you know for sure? see, again, here you had made up your mind already that herald had bad intention of using ALLAH, i.e. is to recruit members!! oh well… it’s a free country… everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, so if that’s your opinion, fine, stick to it!! of course i understand there are lots of others (not only fatima and arbibi) with the same view as you too… so be it.

yes, we have one side here who will say the issue is about proselytising (like arbibi) but also one side that say the issue is about human rights. of course i agree with the latter. yes, i may even say for herald to drop its use of ALLAH, if there was no ruling for it to drop it… if you know what i mean!! as ALLAH does not belongs exclusively to malaysian muslim, why should the malaysian muslim government ban non muslim from using it? that is denying our RIGHTS to use it! (oops. someone will come in with some argument about rights again… something about it not being absolute or whatever. sigh). oh and also, like steve oh, i agree this ban on use of allah by the cabinet is really bizarre and like what bishop paul tan said, the ban will only put malaysia in a bad light in the eyes of the world.

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extract from an internal reflection paper our church uses within homes:

Sabda dianugerahi Allah terutamanya untuk penyelamatan umat manusia melalui kepercayaan kepada Yesus Kristus. Sabda Allah terdiri daripada Kitab Suci yang diilhami Allah untuk menyangkal kesalahan-kesalahan, menjadi pedoman hidup umat Kristus dan memberi pengajaran tentang kehidupan yang salih. Beginilah caranya umat-umat yang mengabdikan diri kepada Allah dilengkapkan supaya sedia melaksanakan kerja-kerja kebajikan. (2 Timotius 3, 14-17)
(oops. i hope muslims who read this won’t feel the urge to convert – as defined by the gomen… and now ktemoc)

english translation:

God’s gift of the Word is primarily for our salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. The Word of God consists of all scripture inspired by God that is useful for refuting error, for guiding people’s lives and for teaching them to be upright. This is how believers who are dedicated to God become fully equipped and ready for any good work. (2 Tim 3, 14-17)