I think I’ll write on the TBH case in the next post.
For now, so many things to point out on this upcoming Friday protest.
The issue itself started out as an almost philosophical one, not unlike the Bak Kut Teh controversy – in which a few underlying issues are the same (will hope to collect thoughts on all that soon).
Now, it has become all politics. I don’t mean being a bit of a broken record, and restate for the 1000th time – this is what you get when you have race based politics.
The likes of Najib, Muhyiddin and Hishamuddin have all made political calculations that appear to conclude: supporting this mayhem is one the few ways we can shore up our Umno-Malay identity.
Their need to do this is simply because they are caught up in a racial polemic that they cannot – for all their (ironically numerous) 1Malaysia’s – escape as an institution.
Notwithstanding the fact that I cannot take anything top Umno leaders say about God or religion seriously, we need not even look far to compare whether or not there are serious religious issues at stake to warrant the kind of protest that is being planned.
If the nation’s largest Islamic party is very admirably willing to engage in dialogue instead of going cow head style, I think we reasonably conclude where true Muslim attitudes about this issue lie.
Given Umno’s history, we cannot even put past our 1Malaysia friends the possibility that they are returning to their super kolot, despicable propaganda of: you see, we need BN, or there will always be these kind of racial-religious conflict, ala May 13. Needless to say, they then themselves engineer this kind of discontent to make themselves ‘relevant.’
If that is what they are banking on, then truly, that party is not long for this world.
And what of hypocrisy? As Lulu astutely pointed out – what happened to “Ini bukan budaya kita?”
Another of my favourites come from Najib:
“We cannot stop them if they want to congregate in mosques,” said Najib, when asked if the government was practising double standards in handling demonstrations.
Really? That’s funny. Remember Perak?
Weren’t you firing tear gas into the mosque compound then? Just to cover up the shame surrounding how you bought a government in the silver state?
Me and my friends also got gassed Masjid Jamek during the last ISA demonstration.
Don’t try to bluff the rakyatla, we are not stupid. We know you want to make some trouble just to seem like jaguh Melayu.
No one is falling for it. You want to be jaguh Melayu or Islam? Then why don’t you start defending justice the way every good Muslim does.
You can start by letting Dr. Pornthip come back and testify without fear of intimidation. Wouldn’t hurt to find the real culprits behind the jet thefts. And Kugan’s murder. And Altantuya’s.
I think there are real issues at stake here, and that usage of the term Allah may not be as straightforward as some of us like. There is a necessity for understanding of context by both sides.
That said, given the tone and context of this Friday’s planned protest (which is a far cry from the genuine dialogue needed to solve the problem, my guess is that you’ll only get rabid Umno extremists at this protest, full of hate and looking to plunge the nation into trouble.
Morons and sycophants are the only customers for Najib’s 1Malaysia bollocks bullshit. All others eat rice.
When he does the post-mortem on BN’s total annihilation in the next GE he will do well to remember the events of these few days. Heck, he may not even remain as MP.
http://www.mahkamah.gov.my hacked!
Allah is an arabic word for god. Same as tuhan in BM. They are just common words in different languages.
Allah is not the name for any god. What is the fuss all about?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_in_Islam
This can be the best joke in the entire arab penisular. Better register this one before other country claim it as their joke.
Say:”praise be to Allah,Who begets no son, and has no partner in [His] dominium: nor[needs] he any to protect Him from humiliation: yea,magnify Him for His greatness and glory!” Surah 17 Ayat 111 Al Quran translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali.
“Allah” is a holy word that is special to the Muslims. The fact that the Chritians, are fighting for this right to use the word “Allah”, at this point of time, raises alot of questions on its sincerity and intentions. Why can’t it raise the issue after Malaysia’s independence, why do so now decades after independence? Indeed, the fact is clear that they want to use “allah” to convert impressionable young Muslims to Christians, and this decadent practice should not be allowed.
The fact that PAS has said its okay for Christians to use the word “Allah” underlines its significant political weakness in the multi-party Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has no balls at all, because it submits to whatever the DAP says and assumes, which apparently is in direct contradiction to its policies, ideals and ideology. PAS has sold itself to the non-Muslims, but UMNO WILL FIGHT FOR THE RIGHTS OF THE MUSLIMS AND STAND BY IT
nat: just a quick note that this commenter, UMNO, is the same commenter as the one above (Pro_Perlembagaan), same IP address.
Nat, your ambition to be a politician in Malaysia will never materialise. There’re professional, educated Malays like me who will fight you to the end.
nat: dipersilakan sdr, dipersilakan :) hanya diminta guna satu nama untuk komen, itu saje :) terima kasih :)
Some umnoputras including the chief of “1 Malaysia” who are self-appointed defenders of Islam have insisted that Catholics should use “Tuhan” instead of “Allah” to address the Catholic or Christian God. But in the national anthem, “Tuhan” (not “Allah”) bless the country (…Tuhan kurniakan…). How now ?!!!. If Malay-Muslims are that easily confused as portrayed by some umnoputras, they must be thinking that Malaysia is blessed by the Catholic/Christian God, and the Muslim God “Allah” is perpetually on leave. Perhaps, this confusion may cause the government to change the national anthem by replacing “Tuhan” with “Allah”. But then again, non-muslims will not be allowed to sing the national anthem. Then it would be non-muslims’ turn to be confused. If this issue goes to the courts, even the judges will get kepala pening. So much for “1 Malaysia”!!!. It looks more like “1 Helluva confusing & divide and rule” regime !!!.
UMNO, it’s veru funny of your reasoning above. “Allah” has been used in East Msia for hundreds of years, and all this while nothing has happened, no Muslims have felt anything wrong or lost, and then suddenly the restriction *imposed* by the ministry. And do you think it’s reasonable for the imposition? And do you think it’s unreasonable for Christians (esp in East Msia) to use “Allah” without raising the issue?
All this started because of some bigots in Home Ministry started to regulate this issue, making a mountain out of a molehill.
Just look at the first paragraph of Wikipedia article and you will get it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allah
“… used by Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, in reference to God.”
Unless there are two Islams: one in Msia and one in Arab. Can you see the logic now pls?
I can understand your reasoning. But Malaysia is not in Arabia; we have our own customs, culture and ethics, we have our own value system.. And the usage of “Allah” is only and should only be confined to Muslims, because it has been our practice for decades, if not centuries. We do not want impressionable young Muslims to be confused and hop over to Christianity unjustifiably over this usage of the word “Allah”. We do not want bloodbaths either.
Our friend UMNO says below: “And the usage of “Allah” is only and should only be confined to Muslims”
If that’s true, I would like you to tell your Sultans to change the lyrics of several state anthems.
Can’t have Christians singing ALLAH LANJUTKAN USIA TUANKU now, can we?
Silakanlah kalau pandai sangat.
Well, most religions tell there is only ONE god… and most religions mostly tell that you must respect the other and so on…
What differ is the people in charge of the religions (imams, priests, …) and some specific habits and legends (Ramadan, Christmas, …)
Most of these legends and habits are from people who wrote them… And people are *not* reliable (even if they are “prophets”, “saints”, …)
Is it difficult to believe that, basically, all religions pray the same god, even if they give him a different name ?
These religion-conflicts look to me like the story about the “vrede mieren” and the “strijden mieren” (peace ants and battle ants) in “De kleine Johannes” written by Frederic Van Eede (a dutch writter). The peace ants were going to war against the battle ants because they were battle ants… long before, all the ants were fighting. Then, a wise ant came and told how much better it’d be if ants were not fighting each other… Other ants killed it… The peace ants told Johannes that the other one were saying that they had the head of that wise ant, which was impossible because THEY had the real head, hence, the other must be battle ants…