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The Fight Over ‘Allah’ – Malaysia’s delicate balance is at risk

By Ioannis Gatsiounis
NEWSWEEK
Jan 22, 2010
(From the magazine issue dated Feb 1, 2010)

The interethnic chaos Malaysia has long feared moved closer to reality this month when 10 churches were at-tacked around the country. The attacks followed a civil-court ruling on New Year’s Eve declaring that a law prohibiting non-Muslims from using the word “Allah” to describe their God was unconstitutional. Strangely, though, Christians have been using “Allah” for “God” in East Malaysia since the 1920s without much controversy. So why the sudden spate of violence in a nation long viewed as a model of tolerance in the Muslim world?

The answer is that beneath Malaysia’s outward glow of progressive moderation, racial and religious consciousness has risen steadily among Muslim Malays, who make up 60 percent of the population. That creeping conservatism has been fanned by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), seeking to revive support that is slipping amid rampant corruption and other forms of misrule. Rather than trying to quell misgivings among Malays who felt that the use of “Allah” to describe the Christian God would sow confusion, the government appealed the decision, saying that Muslim sensitivities must be respected to protect the fragile ethnic balance. Then UMNO leaders, including Prime Minister Najib Razak, said the government could not stop planned protests against the ruling, though he has often opposed the exercise of free speech in the past. Critics charge the government with institutionalizing racism and emboldening Muslim hardliners. Whatever the case, the church attacks are the clearest sign yet that Malaysia’s racial-religious compact is unraveling.

During the 1980s and 1990s Malaysia transformed itself from an agrarian-based economy to a manufacturing one. More recently it has struggled to shed its low-value-added, low-wage structure. Private investment, now at 11 percent of GDP, is down more than two thirds since the late 1990s at least in part because of investor concern about the social tension. Efforts to create a high-tech innovation economy have been set back by the flight of talent: opposition leader Lim Kit Siang says 300,000 “top brains” have fled to Singapore since the last general election. Now Malaysia’s reputation for stability is under threat, and investors are jittery amid reports that Malaysia saw the biggest foreign-exchange outflows in Asia last year. Though some an-alysts give Najib high marks as a liberalizing economic reformer, sectarian unrest won’t help, and could well thwart the country’s aim of becoming a fully developed nation by 2020.

The church attacks also threaten regional stability. Indonesia’s Muslim leaders have cautioned Muslims there not to take their cue from Malaysia. The U.S. government issued a travel advisory warning that the court ruling could trigger criminal or terrorist attacks on foreigners in Malaysia’s eastern Sabah province, which borders the southern Philippines, home to the Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf. And so it is that in a few short weeks Malaysia has gone from pointing the way for Muslims in neighboring countries to joining the list of regional hot spots.

Last week the government took a step to undo the damage, saying Christians may use “Allah” in the states of Penang, Sarawak, and Sabah, and in the Federal Territory, which includes Kuala Lumpur. That, along with Malaysians’ tendency to avoid racial confrontation, may stave off wider violence. But it hardly addresses the festering racial resentments that precipitated the attacks.

Almost 40 years ago the government introduced a policy of positive discrimination for Malays, a move that helped reduce income disparities between the Malay majority and the big Chinese and Indian minorities. But it also heightened communal identification, restricted educational and economic opportunities for non-Malays, and bred dependency among the Malays. Until now, all that was hidden by political sloganeering, tightly controlled media, and billions spent on eye-catching infrastructure projects in-tended to make Malaysia appear both modern and progressive. But the at-tacks have blown the cover off the myth of racial harmony. Now Malaysia must get down to the nitty-gritty of building a truly pluralistic society. As the church bombings make clear, it can’t afford not to.

Gatsiounis is a Malaysia-based journalist and author, most recently, of Velvet & Cinder Blocks, a story collection detailing a planned attack on a Christian landmark in Malaysia.

44 Replies to “The Fight Over ‘Allah’ – Malaysia’s delicate balance is at risk”

  1. An upside down…confused…disunited Malaysia suits UMNO best.
    These dirty crooked politicians have no other choices.
    The will keep on trying to hold on to power forever.
    From provocations…to creating fears and a show of their downright racists attitudes….[deleted]
    Their only hope is ti build a fire.. .with race and religion politics….now in progress.
    They simply cannot rule a united Malaysia.
    It is divide to rule..and call it “1 Malaysia”..the most bunkum and stupid slogan I have ever heard…from an UMNO PM…after 54 years of ruling..the country.
    13th GE is getting nearer…and Najib is in desperate positions.
    These are well trained actors…that behave calm and confident…and speak like they are so well loved by majority Malaysians……over and over again..by so many.
    Any fool can know what liars they are…..for if they ar so popular…Najib will not hesitate one second to have a snap 13th GE…to stamp his authorities…elected by Malaysians.
    [deleted]

  2. Like I always said,Umnoputras would stage anything to stay in power.What else can they do to remain in the driver’s seat.When these guys are corrupted to the core,what honest thing can you expect them to do ? Lets face it,a liar is a liar,black is black,a win is a win,you can not simply change it. Similarly Umnoputras/warlords are corrupted,hence they would not want to be changed ,unless of course they are prepared to lose power and to go to jail for the rest of their lives for most of them. After more than five decades of corruption and power,I find it pretty hard for any one of them to even dream of losing power and going to prison for life,let alone ,allowing it to losing power through the demoncratic process. I think the May 13th tragedy was staged as an excuse to formulate the NEP to protect the malays’s interest,quite similar to TDM’s saying that the American staged the 911 attack as an excuse to attack muslim countries.

  3. And their hero…Mahathir gave a fantastic explanation…why the USA Twin Towers bombing was staged.
    Since he is an expert…he must know.Malaysians also know he created a stage show on Anwar.
    USA government under Bush was cruel and bullies..but I doubt they will purposely kill few innocent thousands at home…to find a reason to attack Iraq.
    Mahathir is such a low class dirty politician.with no feelings for he living over the dead at the US Twin Towers…sad event..that he will keep on instigating…twisting and insulting others….to be in the limelight he enjoyed so much in the past.
    But after retiring…the limelight he got …are actually exposing him as the true devil reincarnated PM..so corrupted..a real racist….and full of dung talks.
    One said…Lee Kuan Yew is a Statesman…and Mahathir is a politician…how true.
    Have he no shame at all?

  4. //I think the May 13th tragedy was staged as an excuse to formulate the NEP to protect the malays’s interest…//frankyapp

    I agree with everything you said in the current thread. However the more accurate version of the above sentence should be:

    //It was evidenced that the May 13th tragedy was staged as an excuse to launch the racist NEP to protect the UMNO’s interest//

  7. Most write-ups on Malaysia are rather predictable – discrimination, deprivation, marginalisation, racial and religious polarisation, migration of talent, corruption, and abuse of power – which have led to the continuous down spiral of this once self assured and emerging country.

    I believe, if given the choice, both BN and PR would want to reverse the course this country has taken. But after so many years of ill-conceived inculcation, racism, religious bigotry, corruption and abuse of power have become endemic and institutionalised. How do we dismantle the colossal racist complexes that exist within the civil service, the judiciary, the local authorities, the police and the armed forces? It will be a gargantuan task. We Malaysians, rightly and wrongly, have allowed politicians to use race, religion, and region to divide and dissect us for too long. We Malaysians are not well educated or discerning enough to see the ploys and the schemes used by politicians to enrich themselves at our expense. We the people are still so easily manipulated and instigated, especially when come to religion, language and culture. We always think our own are the best and more superior than others. But then, why don’t we look at how others of different religions, cultures and languages have progressed ahead of us.

  8. Is Mahathir fanning more trouble when he commented that the US had staged the 9/11 collapse of the twin towers? His use of loaded words such as “the final solution” and the attack on Muslims by the Christian USA is a veiled code word for more mischief. Even before the “Allxh” controversy Utusan Malaysia was alluding to the spectre of May 13 being repeated. This cancerous piece of rubbish from Kerala does not care whether the country is in one piece because he knows that his legacy is doomed and the people he thinks that he has helped have become the wiser.

  10. In Sabah and Sarawak they have religious harmony since then, only until this Pakiam guy from brickfield came with his herald publication , loannis gatsiounis should interview this Pakiam guy..

  11. Much of the problem arises from pursuit of mutually incompatible and often contradictory policies, for eg.:

    · One can’t try to bridge inter-racial/religious divide of peoples when one’s own political architecture is communal with popularity depending on maintaining and widening racial/religious divide (eg promote 1 Malaysia on one hand and supporting the ban on the use of “Allah” word);

    · Or a “modern Islamic state” with policies promoting aggressively “creeping conservatism” in Ioannis Gatsiounis’s words;

    · Or cooperation with the US as a key ally in trade and security (ie its global war on terror”) and yet with an influential ex premier condemning it of staging its own 911 sandiwara;

    · foreign policy-wise to integrate Iran into the Asian economy at the very same time when Washington is attempting to isolate that country economically due to Iran’s nuclear program;

    · want to turn Malaysian into high-tech value added innovation economy by facilitating brain drain of our best brightest and and gain of low or semi skilled labour from other countries in support of low wage policy

    · for outward, show condemn corruption and yet evince lack of political will to combat it

    · and give excuses as TDM does, for one’s gaffes and thwart legitimate criticisms by counter attack – for example :

    Country gets negative perception over the “Allah” controversy as evinced by what Ioannis Gatsiounis writes in a reputable international magazine like Newsweek.

    When Tun Dr Mahathir was asked to comment on the negative perception Malaysia was getting from abroad on the current tug-of-war between the Muslims and Christians over the word “Allah”, he countered, as usual (combatively than logically) when interviewed by reporters after witnessing the signing ceremony between Petronas Lubricants International and Proton Holdings Bhd :

    “It is unfair to cast a bad light on Malaysia over the controversy… as other countries too have been criticised for their stance on certain religious issues…

    He cited Switzerland when he said “I have a bad impression or perception of Switzerland, for example, which does not allow minarets, and of France which does not allow people to wear ‘tudung’ which does not allow minarets on mosques while France bars Muslim women from wearing the veil or “tudung..Therefore, no country’s image is immune from criticism”

    As such, he said, these countries would at one time or another be criticised as being unreasonable and undemocratic which would leave a bad impression on them. (Source Bernama – Jan 19 report)

  12. By now ppl shld know dat MMK is not only an ultra racist (even gave up his father’s race 2 transform himself 2 a new race dat suppresses n bullies his own father’s race)
    MMK is also a terrorist n a supreme puppeteer who stages wayang
    He has pulled lots of marionette string puppets (many of whom litter our judiciary, AG, polis, n civil services + private sectors) n he has staged/manipulated many events
    Hence in his warped mind, avatars, 9/11, 5/13, black eye, sodomy, Bank Bumi murder, operasi lalang, death of TBH, bombing of places of worship, etc – all no difference
    Semua staged n he is cocksure of that ‘cos he loves 2 sing: And more, much more than this, I did it my way
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E2hYDIFDIU
    As he sings, his nose gets longer n longer
    Now in his twilight yrs, he has become a mullah n terrorist, calling 4 jihad
    He declared dat d US is so evil dat they demolished d WTC twin towers n numerous lives in order 2 mount attacks on d Muslim world
    Another great MMK pronouncement, just like his black eye n sodomy pronouncements
    With MMK around, 1M’sia does not need enemies

  13. This Allah controversy issue is more to gain political mileage played by the racist party UMNO…its very survival is completely depended on the malay race who practise Islam.
    This is a very dangerous game UMNO leaders are engaged in…obviously, all Malaysians are living under the sufferings of these Ketuanan UMNO Maggots, who if failed to clinch on to power, have no hesitation to see this country go down in smoke!!

  14. Limkumput…take note that around the coming of the 12th GE….and after the result….announced…vast majority Malaysians could feel the change of government is real and practical.
    The exposures can never be hidden like before..when internet became the tools for educated ones to read alternative opinions….all not available in papers or TV programs..and the end results…was the 12th GE….favoring change of government..with powerful opposition voices.
    There is no such thing as “choices”.
    It is FOR or AGAINST…change of government….as UMNO BARU have infact…declared war with anyone against them…by creating fears…provocations…killings…arresting and now….burning of churches.
    Without race and religion….to divide an rule….UMNO BARU is dead.
    UMNO BARU intends to rule forever ….by hook or by crook. You mean ..you cannot see or read…. all the signs?
    So…you adjust yourself…to comment ..FOR or AGAINST…and do not try to be too smart…to be back to your old self again….talking agree to disagree. which do not favors change in government at all.

  17. D free 4 all Internet n blog thingy will b over soon in 1M’sia
    It is rumored dat NR n co r recruiting IT savvy Indians 2 jam/block blogs like this1, MK n MT
    2 trace ppl who wrote -ve thingy on NR, rosa, Umno B, BN
    N lock up of anti-Umno B/BN ppl, esp politicians, speakers, writers, bloggers
    Once dat is done, info will once again b fr msm, n then time 4 GE13, massacre of PR

  20. Gatsiounis is one foreign writer who can give a lesson on journalism to NST and The Star editors, including the servile Wong Chun Wai.
    He is accurate and poignant. He knows Malaysia better then Malaysians.
    UMNO will make sure Malaysia will head into a bottomless pit with Malays at the bottom and Chinese secure in some foreign land.

  21. from a guy who wrote in Malaysiakini:

    Don’t be stupid Mahathir. If the collapse of the twin towers was staged, may I know how many people must get involved in the project? So you think it is so simple to shut the mouths of hundreds if not thousands of people getting all the demolition materials in place? I am sure those who participated in the demolition would not want to die, unless they are stupid like you to think otherwise. Come on, Mahathir, now I understand why Malaysia is going backward after your 22 years of failed opportunity and misrule. Please, Mahathir, you are not smart. You are just a third world tribal leader appealed to the raw emotions of your people to rule this country. Contrary to general wish, I want you to live longer so that you can see the unravelling of what you have done to this country. You are not anti-Christians. How about you are an anti-Semite?

  22. Today I found out I got the opportunity to work in a foreign land involving technical fields. My job includes exploring new methods and passing these knowledge to the locals. Teaching is part of the job.

    I have the option of paying taxes either in Malaysia or this foreign land. You can guess very well which one I picked.

    They can label me whatever they want, but my heart is already numbed to these. Whatever they will label me, that is exactly what they are.

    Yes I am ungrateful and many things you will label me as, but it is YOU, the government, that made me this way. Nobody else.

  23. To the nincomp00p ball, he could only see the world as black or white, for or against. He has repeated this ad nauseam already. Why should I waste my valuable time arguing with a half baked nincomp00p?

  24. There is no contradiction for this or that. Everything is centred on parochial Malay-Islamic rule since the beginning of this nation. Lee Kuan Yew tried to change it, we kicked him out with the help of so many of us who today only live to regret. Please don’t get me wrong, we want a plural egalitarian Malaysia, not a Malay or a Chinese Malaysia. 1Malaysia, progressive Islam, cooperation with the West, policy against nuclear Iran, fight against corruption and abuse of power, promoting knowledge and skill workers are just side shows. There was never an intention. The country can go to the dog so long as their interest and power are protected.

  25. Dr. Mahatir was just saying something tongue in cheek to insult the West. He needs to insult the West, as he always has done, so as to become a local hero. He needs this as life-blood; just as Count Dracula needs virgin’s blood.

    Let the old man have his fun. He doesn’t mean any harm.

  26. Ha, ha, ha – let’s enjoy d Bollywood show
    1Malaysia Makkal Sakthi Party has 2presidents
    Dog bites dog, fighting 4 power while claiming 2 represent ppl’s power
    Ai yo yo, no wonder MMK does want 2 b 1 of them, his own kind

  27. If Anwar Ibrahim permits the insubordination behaviour of Zulkifli Noordin to persist in repetitious manner, I wonder how Anwar is going to control the discipline of PKR as a single entity as well as that of Pakatan Rakyat as a multi-parties coalition. Sometimes a hero will have to take the courage to chop off his one arm when this arm was critically shot with a poisoned arrow by the enemy! Is there any additional worth to keep the rotten arm which may transfuse poison through the blood fluid to the heart and brain until the whole body will be fatally poisoned?

    http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/bahasa/50577-zulkifli-mahu-khalid-disiasat-menghasut-hina-sultan

  28. “Let the old man have his fun. He doesn’t mean any harm.” (good coolie)

    The validity of your comment is questionable. How are you going to convince people that someone who is keen to serve as the spin master of the terrorists does not mean any harm? I believe the comment from any respectable person, including a political leader, must carry some logical sense and ethical sense in order to promote the acceptable moral value. It will not make any good sense to us for taking it as a fun to listen to any person who is anxious to say something for trying to right the wrong things and to wrong the right things!

  29. limkamput said,
    “You are just a third world tribal leader appealed to the raw emotions of your people to ..”

    Mahathir is able to do all these because he is a crafty Indian to make the Malays believe that he is Malay.
    Only a Malay turned Indian can become more Malay than Malay themselves. He can fool them lock, stock and barrel and become their demi-god.

  30. //(eg promote 1 Malaysia on one hand and supporting the ban on the use of “Allah” word)// (Jeffrey)

    Jeffrey,
    “1 Malaysia” concept is just a hypocritical hypothesis formulated for the purpose of fooling the Malaysian people. Deep inside Najib’s heart, he may want all Malaysians to adopt the principle of “One Race, One Religion, One Culture, One Nation” if all non-muslims people of Malaysia are willing to give up all other aspects of their life which will continue to make them be identified as a non-Malay, by following the model as exemplified by Dr. Mahathir’s personal life.

    However, as a political expediency by adopting the principle of Machiavellianism, Najib really has no other better choice, by taking the situation into consideration, than choosing to donate RM500,000 to Metro Tabernacle Church as church rebuilding fund after the arson attack on the church building.

    Political expediency sometimes may go against the general principle of a person or of a predetermined government policy!

  31. Limkumput is back to his bragging and twisting style again.
    He is trying so hard to apply Mahathir’s and Najib styles…together..calling me an idiot..which…he is the actual one..just like mamak accusing others..for what he is.
    Then.. like Najib saying Balan’s comments is “FRIVOLOUS”…so his “ninkompoop” is that answer….to shut me up?
    Limkumput…the self proclaimed professor..admitting he was the slimebag in this blog…all forgotten…just because…the few watching him…are not here now?
    Talk kok…I will hunt him down..like before.

  32. Keep bringing grandfather stories about the past…to justify UMNO’s fairness to all?
    Is that it….Limkumput?
    “Please don’t get me wrong”…will not work anymore…..smart ass…. Limkumput.
    FOR or AGAINST change of government…say it loud and clear…and don’t try to say you are “FOR” change of government….yet… trying so hard to convince young readers…not to make up their minds.
    You have said you are a proud member of MCA…and I thought you have given up…but no…you start your nonsense all over again.
    Me ninkumpoop?…you running dog for UMNO.
    Me a not so smart human being?…OK loh.
    You running dog for UMNO…..correct?

  33. When “cintanegara” writes…so many confronted him.
    When “Limkumput” writes….only one man…kept confronting him..and I was the one…to tell that gentleman…to leave him alone.
    Forgot his nick..and I hope he will accept my sincere apology.
    He did…leave him alone..and that was big mistake.
    The nick is an obvious Indian freedom fighter.
    Hope he reads and come back.

  34. Malaysian voters have voted mad cows into power for the past half century. Though it’s pretty deadly,people still vote them in.I think it was either the voters were crazy or that they were charmed.What else answer do we have. It’s about time now,voters don’t just ‘ main main ‘ with their good livelihood and this around go the poll and just do it to get rip of this mad cow parasite once and for all.

  35. You think I give a hoot to others who are against me, much less people like you, a phua tang sai. Go ahead canvass all you need. Frankly the cause of PR would be better served without a half baked ball like you -whole day crying father and crying mother to get attention.

  36. Sorry one missing word, not the word Allxh but should read this time around. In addition I think NR is a terrorist by night and a good samaritan by day….ref to # 30 in answer to Onlooker politics. He’s indeed like a kind of a double headed snake.

  37. ///But the at-tacks have blown the cover off the myth of racial harmony.///–

    The racial or religious disharmony that we see now or said to exist in 1969 was staged. That gave UMNO leaders the platform to act their heroic acts.

    The Muslims in the country have two views, one accepts that Allah is the shared God, and the other championed by UMNO says that Allah is the superior God reserved for Muslims. But 99% of Muslims in the world, outside Malaysia, accepts that Christians and Jews take Allah as their God. So, only some of the 1% Muslims in the world denied non-Muslims the use of the name “Allah’. They reserve it for UMNO God.

    The racial and religious disharmony has continued to be staged so that UMNO politicians can demonstrate their role as Malay leaders. It is hard enough to be leaders doing state’s work rather than God’s work. UMNO leaders claim that they perform God’s work. All the hard work entitled them to extra-ordinary opportunity to become fabulously rich and powerful, and they create opportunities for corruption. That becomes a vicious circle, since corrupt practices make political position very competitive, and as UMNO leaders never practices meritocracy, they have to resort to fear mongering, and thus religion which determines race becomes the rare commodity as game.

    It is only when political positions which translate to government positions provide only rewards commensurate to efforts in running the state, rather than opportunity for legalised corruption practices would those positions attract persons who are dedicated to serving the countrymen. Till then, politics is the most rewarding profession, and religion will remain the most convenient tool for manipulating to achieve their objectives. Thus, only when there is no corruption can we hope that the leader would not stage racial and religious disharmony in the country. People of different races and religions are no different from animals which possess instinct to live in harmony unless their livelihood is challenged. Unless the state takes over the power to make people unequal, there would not be a need to fight one another just because they believe in different Gods, if there were, or if they practice different cultures. Indeed it is the different culture that provides different types of food that Malaysians enjoy.

  38. What type of idiotic reply is that…from Limkumput…2.05pm?
    “Half baked ball” and me…crying for attention?
    Are you NUTS?
    Who is using word “Allah”….to create havoc in Malaysia?
    Why are smart non Malays…opted to work overseas?
    So simple…to answer.
    Do you know the root cause of these two problems?
    Sure you do.
    So why not go straight to the point and stop trying to be too smart to analyze this or that.
    hi..you and your MCA buggers are racists…….love to divide and rule…correct or not?…answer me….you idiot.

  39. “There is no contradictions for this or that”..said Limkumput.
    My goodness…Najib keep contradicting himself..but you smart ass…chose only Mahathir to fire on.
    So much explanation….concerning the many problems in Malaysia….yet not once…Limkumput point out the ROOT CAUSE…Mahathir and UMNO BARU.
    He wants to prove to all…how smart he can read Malaysia’s problems…WITHOUT once encourage Malaysians to vote…change of government…..WHY???
    Come on Limkumput…declare yourself…your mission here.
    Will you deny….you are a MCA member?

  41. Well tanjong8…if you know…we are at war with words against Barisan National worms here…the rubbish will keep on coming under the disguise of smart comments….to poison young voters minds.
    Kopitiam fellas will hunt them down..and shut their mouths..as we are not that smart…to talk double meaning talks.
    So join us…to identify and hunt them down.

  42. chengho is just a malay kid in his late 20ies – early 30ies. Still naive, easily manipulated and knows only about throwing stones at others and hiding away.

    Look kid, jib’s orgasm is over. His ketuanan is now as flaccid can be. So stop your one-liner. Open your eyes and ears. Malaysia without umno is better and brighter.

  43. “If Anwar Ibrahim permits the insubordination behaviour of Zulkifli Noordin to persist in repetitious manner, I wonder how Anwar is going to control the discipline of PKR as a single entity as well as that of Pakatan Rakyat as a multi-parties coalition. ..”
    – Onlooker Politics

    Yes, sack Zulkifli Noordin, or we sack PKR in the 13th Election!

  44. “chengho is just a malay kid in his late 20ies – early 30ies. Still naive, easily manipulated and knows only about throwing stones at others and hiding away.

    Look kid, jib’s orgasm is over. His ketuanan is now as flaccid can be. So stop your one-liner. Open your eyes and ears. Malaysia without umno is better and brighter.” – taiking

    Your advice will be in vain, this kid does not know what is orgasm and has never experienced one, remember, he is ‘chengho’!
    Ha ha ha.

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