Malaysian Christians attend a Sunday service inside a church in Petaling Jaya near Kuala Lumpur . (AFP Photo/Saeed Khan)

Malaysia Defends ‘Allah’ Ban As Ninth Church is Attacked

Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia on Monday defended its refusal to allow non-Muslims to use the word “Allah” as a dispute over the issue saw a ninth church attacked in a spate of fire-bombings and vandalism.

The Sidang Injil Borneo Church in the central state of Negri Sembilan was the latest to be targeted amid anger over a court ruling that overturned a government ban on non-Muslims using “Allah” as a translation for “God.”

The church attacks, which erupted last Friday, have sent tensions soaring in the multicultural nation, where the Muslim Malay majority lives alongside ethnic Chinese and Indians.

Home Ministry secretary general Mahmood Adam, who briefed foreign diplomats on the crisis on Monday, said they had asked why the term was off-limits when it is widely used by Christians in Indonesia and the Middle East.

“They don’t understand the situation here, they just want to know why it can be allowed in other countries and not here,” he told reporters. “Be fair, you have to compare apples to apples, oranges to oranges. Our landscape is different from other countries.”

The controversy flared after the High Court on Dec. 31 ruled in favor of the Catholic newspaper The Herald, which argued for the right to use “Allah” in its Malay-language section. Malaysian Christians say they have used the word without incident for centuries but the ruling party — which is vying for popularity among Muslims with the opposition Islamic party — insists it must be used only by Muslims.

It says that the use of “Allah” by Christians could cause confusion among Muslims and encourage religious conversion, which is illegal in Malaysia.

The ruling in the Catholic newspaper’s favor was suspended last week pending an appeal, after the government argued the decision could cause racial conflict.

Since Friday, churches have been pelted with Molotov cocktails, splashed with paint and attacked with stones, triggering tighter security at churches.

The latest attack targeted the Sidang Injil Borneo Church which conducts services in the national language, Malay. Its door was left blackened by fire, which filled the building with smoke.

“We have been using the word ‘Allah’ during the service as most of our church members speak Malay,” senior pastor Eddy Marson Yasir said of the congregation, which mostly hails from Sabah and Sarawak states in Borneo.

Prime Minister Najib Razak called for calm and said the government will not tolerate threats to racial harmony. Mahmood reiterated the government’s condemnation of the violence and said Malaysia would do “all in our power” to protect religious freedom.

The issue is one of a string of religious disputes in recent years that have strained relations between Muslim Malays and ethnic Chinese and Indians who fear the country is being Islamicized.

About 9 percent of Malaysia’s 28 million people are Christians, including some 850,000 Catholics. More than half of Malaysia’s Catholics are from indigenous groups, mostly from Borneo.

Azmi Sharom from the Universiti Malaya criticized the ruling United Malays National Organisation for stoking Malay nationalism in order to protect its voter base, after 2008 elections where it lost unprecedented ground to the opposition.



Agence France-Presse

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