Priest reveals proof Christians used ‘Allah’ before Merdeka

BY JENNIFER GOMEZ
JANUARY 07, 2014

A prayer book in Malay, published in 1905, containing the word ‘Allah’. – The Malaysian Insider pic, January 7, 2014.A century-old Catholic prayer book is the latest proof that Christians in the Malay peninsula not only prayed in Malay more than 100 years ago, but also communicated with each other and the church in the language, says a priest at the centre of a new “Allah” row in Malaysia.

Catholic weekly Herald editor Father Lawrence Andrew said the 1905 publication was a Malay language prayer book and not Indonesian.

"From the spelling of the words, you would see it is old Malay. And you can find the modern translation of the old Malay used in the scripture in the Alkitab," he told The Malaysian Insider.

His church and other Catholic churches in Selangor managed to avoid disruption to their Sunday services when planned protests by certain Muslim non-governmental organisations were called off over their use of the word “Allah” in the Bahasa Malaysia services.

Andrew said the prayer book quoted the First Letter of Peter, one of the verses in old Malay read:

“Rendahkanlah diri mu dibawah tangan berkuasa Allah itu, sopaia dia angkatkanlah kamu di waktu katemuannha."

In the Akitab, the verse read: “Oleh itu, rendahkanlah diri kamu ke bawah tangan Allah yang berkuasa, supaya Dia meninggikan kamu pada masa yang ditetapkan-Nya.”

The priest reiterated it was particularly important for Malay-speaking Christians to be able to pray in Malay, especially for those from Sabah and Sarawak who were living in the peninsula.

"There seems to be a general misconception that the use of the word is a new trend in the Christian faith, but that is not true. It has been used for hundreds of years.

"And this prayer book is just one example that Catholics in Malaya were praying in Malay before the British came and English was widely used, alongside Malay by the East Malaysians," Andrew said.

He said the Malay prayer book was mailed to him by the daughter of its owner not long ago.

In a hand-written note that came with the prayer book titled "Kabaktian Sahari-harian" (Daily Prayer), the sender wrote: "This book belonged to Mary De Silva who was a boarder in the convent at St Anne's church, Bukit Mertajam, around the year 1919, where this book was used. Now the book belongs to her daughter Lily De Silva who lives with her son in Penang".

Putrajaya won its case last October against the Herald at the Court of Appeal, which overturned a 2009 High Court ruling that Herald has the constitutional right to use the word “Allah”.

The church is appealing against the decision at the Federal Court.

Despite the court process, tensions have risen in the past few weeks over the church's use of the word “Allah” in its Bahasa Malaysia service, leading to the prospect of demonstrations outside churches.

It is Father Lawrence Andrew (second from left) and Archbishop Emeritus Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam (third from left) at their meeting with Selangor police chief Datuk Mohd Shukri Dahlan yesterday. – The Malaysian Inisder pic, January 7, 2014.understood more than 80 police reports have been lodged against Andrew over his remark that the word “Allah” would continue to be used in Catholic churches in Selangor.

His comments came following a statement from the new director of the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais), Ahmad Zaharin Mohd Saad, who had said that the state religious authorities would write to churches in Selangor asking them to comply with the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation among Muslims) Enactment 1988.

Andrew’s comments resulted in several Muslim groups and Selangor Umno threatening to protest in front of churches in the state on Sunday but the protests were called off at the last minute.

But not before a group of protesters burned an effigy of Andrew on Friday.

Still, the priest in his Sunday sermon, called on his congregation not to fear and to remain faithful to God.

Andrew is to meet Selangor executive councillor in charge of religion, Sallehen Mukhyi, and later he will have his statement recorded by Selangor police.

Yesterday, he accompanied Archbishop Emeritus Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam for a meeting with the Selangor police chief Datuk Mohd Shukri Dahlan over the recent religious conflict involving the Catholic church and several Muslim groups. Today, Andrew will have his statement recorded. – January 7, 2014.

Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/priest-reveals-proof-christians-used-allah-before-merdeka

Church leaders happy with Najib’s pledge, but wary it won’t trickle down

By Zurairi AR

December 26, 2012

Najib had reassured the Christian community in Malaysia on Christmas Day yesterday that the government recognised them as an essential part of the nation. – Picture by Saw Siow Feng

PETALING JAYA, Dec 26 – Church leaders are happy with Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s pledge to the Christian community, but expressed concern that the prime minister’s message will not filter down to conservatives and extremist elements in his party and government.

Najib had reassured the Christian community in Malaysia on Christmas Day yesterday that the government recognised them the as an essential part of the nation. Christians form about nine per cent of the country’s 28 million population.

“I hope that was not only from him alone, but it (also) has to be from the other part of the government,” Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) chairman Datuk Ng Moon Hing told The Malaysian Insider yesterday.

CFM, the umbrella body of all Christian denominations in the country, organised its annual Christmas Day party attended by all political leaders.

Ng’s view was mirrored by the Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur, who said the prime minister needs courage, determination and consistent effort to accomplish his promises.

“Hopefully he can get his whole team to (work at it),” Pakiam said.

The church leaders agreed that Najib’s attendance in the Christmas event was a nice gesture towards the Christian community, but would be for naught if he failed to confront extremists elements in his party and the government.

“What’s troubling to Christians is that the government has not spoken up to the extremists what its views are,” said Hermen Shastri, the general secretary from the Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM).

The CCM is an ecumenical fellowship of churches and Christian organisations that are part of the larger Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) representing 90 per cent of the country’s 2.8 million Christians.

Last year, Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia published a report entitled Kristian Agama Rasmi? (“Christianity the official religion?”), where it was alleged that DAP leaders and Christian clergymen were conspiring to take over Putrajaya, abolish Islam as the religion of the federation and install a Christian prime minister.

In the aftermath of the report, Malay supremacist group Perkasa and its president Datuk Ibrahim Ali threatened Christians nationwide with a holy war against any move to usurp Islam with a Christian state.

Najib then meet church leaders to clear the air but the Home Ministry had only slapped the daily with a warning letter for publishing the unsubstantiated report.

Shastri warned that by not taking any action on extremists, it will undo and make difficult the plans that the PM wants to accomplish.

“(This will happen) as long as some groups keep on saying that Christians are a threat,” Shastri said.

The church leaders have listed several issues affecting the Christian community that has yet to be addressed by the government, with the issue of insufficient land for religious sites chief among them.

“What we felt previously is that there are certain issues that the government could be more upfront (with) when dealing with them,” confessed Philip Kok, a bishop with the Lutheran Church of Malaysia.

“I think a lot of time, (we are facing) a struggle against bureaucracy. Some difficulties looked like it was (a problem with policy), but then the policy is interpreted in a different light,” Ng explained.

According to Ng, churches receive no land allocation from the government, which makes it hard for them to build more cemetery sites and buildings to cater to a growing number of Christian population.

The Anglican bishop also revealed that the lease for some sites of missionary schools have expired, yet their application for lease extension had not been entertained.

“The government is not paying for the schools actually, the mission schools belong to the mission board,” he said, adding that the government refused to consult the board when appointing headmasters and principals for the schools.

“It reflects bad on the government,” Ng said.

Pakiam claimed that infringements against Christians’ right are happening with alarming regularity.

“The Allah issue of course we have some sort of agreement and hopefully it will not flare up again in the future,” spoke Kok.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng had urged the federal government on Monday to allow the use of the word “Allah” in the Bible, to prove that the authority are really putting the people first.

“It looks small, it looks petty but it affects people on the ground,” Ng stressed.

Kok however, was more upbeat on what the Christian community should expect from the prime minister.

“The speech was very comforting ... his presence shows that the government is sincere in building up relationship with the Christian community.

“As long as we’re open to dialogues, open for conversations, we can come up with solutions to these challenges. It is normal in a country as diverse as Malaysia,” Kok said.

“It takes time, we can understand, but he has to determinedly go at it,” encouraged Pakiam.

In recent years, the Christian and Muslim religious communities have been engaged in a tug-of-war over the word “Allah”, with the latter group arguing that its use should be exclusive to them on the grounds that Islam is monotheistic and the word “Allah” denotes the Muslim god.

Christians, however, have argued that “Allah” is an Arabic word that has been used by those of other religious beliefs, including the Jews, in reference to God in many other parts of the world, notably in Arab nations and Indonesia.

Conservative Muslim groups have also accused Christians of attempting to convert Malays, resulting in heightened tension between followers of the two religions.

Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/church-leaders-happy-with-najibs-pledge-but-wary-it-wont-trickle-down/