Allah in East Malaysia

Quick....of the top of your head name all countries that have a land border with Malaysia.

Keep that in mind, we'll be using it later.

Mahathir has recently said that :

"I accept the term ‘Allah’ had been used in Sabah and Sarawak before the two states joined Malaysia but it is difficult to stop them from doing so now... but in the peninsular, we have not heard of such practice"

So we have Mahathir Admiting that the status quo BEFORE this was that Christians were "allowed" to use the word Allah. Doesn't this mean that it's the Government that's the one persuing this issue? Doesn't this mean that it's the Government that's dragging this issue and creating un-rest?

It's all in a days work for the UMNO government isn't it.

Christians have been using it all this while and now we have a bunch of rag-tag UMNO hawks stiring tensions over the name. Let's dissect the points one by one:

1) Christians have using the word Allah since before Malaysia was created. FACT

2) Christians in other parts of the world, including Indonesia (where the national language isn't arabic) use the word Allah to refer to God. FACT.

3) If by using the word Allah, Christians can easily conver Muslims, there would be no more Muslims in this country. FACT. (you think it's that easy to convert meh?)

4) UMNO has threatened that Muslims will rise up if pushed against the wall. The actual FACT is that it's the Christians and the Buddhist and the Hindus that are pushed against the wall. Has anyone forgotten the Al-Islam journalist, the Seksyen 23 Cow Head Protest, the Mao Tze statue, the Shah Alam Church that was forced to be built in a Factory lot? Al-Islam may not be a Government arm, but has the Government taken action?

5) UMNO has drawn an analogy that only if Christians agree to Hindus using the name Jesus Christ as one of their gods will they agree that it's fair. CHILDISH. People do not re-name Gods to spite others, and more importantly how you feel is irrelevant as to whether the Government has a legal standing in preventing Christians from using the word Allah. They don't.

6) Nobody seemed to care about the Herald until it began to publish political inclined articles in the run up to the 2008 election. Thank you Home Ministry.

7) UMNO cannot speak for Peninsular Malaysia since Barisan Nasional LOST the popular vote there. Think about it, 51% of the popular vote in Peninsular Malaysia went to Pakatan, therefore if anybody can claim to speak for the residents of Peninsular Malaysia it will be Pakatan. UMNO can speak for East Malaysia, where Christians have been using the term for ages. UMNO represents no one, so Shut up.

8) You cannot divide and conquer East and West Malaysia, we are one country.So the ruling is relevant for both. Furthermore the bahasa section in the Herald is targetted not at Muslims but at East Malaysians whose mother tongue is Bahasa. To say otherwise is ignorant and foolish.

9) Has any Muslim read the Herald? It is most definitely NOT an attempt to convert, the articles there are more community news than anything else. Will it really convert Muslims knowing that Fr. so-and-so has returned from surgery or the form 4 students of Parish so-and-so held a camp? It's like saying the Star Metro section can convert you to Islam.  Ignorant and Foolish.

10) Finally, it is just plain stupid for a Government to mandate that Christians cannot use a word simply because they are Christians.........

That's my 2 cents. Don't spend it all in one place.

Oh, and did you forget Brunei? If you did that just reflects our vision of Malaysia, we tend to forget East Malaysia (who by the way contribute significantly to our GDP and Government income)