The Herald, the organ of Malaysia’s Catholic Church, has translated the word God as "Allah" but it is erroneous because Allah refers to the Muslim god, said Che Din Yusoff, a senior official at the Internal Security Ministry’s publications control department, in remarks monitored by BosNewsLife Friday, December 21. "Christians cannot use the word Allah. It is only applicable to Muslims. Allah is only for the Muslim god. This is a design to confuse the Muslim people," Che Din added.
However church sources say the Malay-language Bible uses Allah for God. “We follow the Bible. The Malay-language Bible uses Allah for God and Tuhan for Lord. In our prayers and in
church during Malay mass, we use the word Allah," Reverend Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Herald, told reporters.
Yet, Che Din said Christians don’t use the word Allah when they worship in English, so they shouldn’t use it in the Malay language too. There are four Malay words that must not be used
by other religions, he said: Allah for God, "solat" for prayers, "kaabah" for the place of Muslim worship in Mecca and "baitula" the house of Allah. The weekly should instead, use the
word "Tuhan" which is the general term for God, he reportedly said.
HERALD’S PERMIT
The Herald’s permit will only be renewed in two weeks if they stop using Allah in their publication, The Associated Press (AP) news agency quoted him as saying. The use of ‘Allah’ outside of Islam has previously stirred controversies in Malaysia. Four years ago, the Bible in Iban language was reportedly banned because it translated the word ‘God’ as Allah Taala, which resembles Islam’s name for God, ‘Allah’.
This is not the first warning for The Herald, which is published in four languages – English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamilm – with a circulation of 12,000. The Herald – which publishes news and information for Catholics in Malaysia – previously received written warnings from officials over critical political and religious articles.
Religious issues are extremely sensitive in Malaysia, where about 60 percent of the 27 million people are Malay Muslims, analysts say. Ethnic Chinese, who follow Christianity and Buddhism, account for 25 percent of the population. Indians, who are mostly Hindus with a sprinkling of Christians and Muslims, are around 10 percent, according to estimates.
