I am currently akin to Rudolph the red nosed reindeer... I have an awful cold and have been sneezing the whole day! Sigh! So in a nutshell, my day has been a sniffling and red-nosed miserable day. The highlight of the day? My dear taking me out for lunch and giving me a lot of T and C. Of course, that's because of the miserable whining and sniffling I used to gain his sympathy... I'm shameless...
I have not been blogging lately due to classes during the summer. There has however been a few incidences as of late that has been irking me to a degree. One is the issue whereby other religions are not allowed to use the word "Allah" to address their God. Ok, fine, I may be bias as I am a Christian, and a Catholic at that. I am very proud of my religion, though we do have our shameful moments in history, as with every other religion. Christians have always adopted the "Holier-than-thou" approach to everything. I don't think I'm like that though. Anyways, I oppose the ministry's decision to make the word "Allah" exclusive to Muslims alone.
"The one, supreme, and only God, the creator of the world and the universe. The term "Allah" is used by Muslims and many Arabic-speaking Christians alike to refer to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob whom adherents of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism worship.
Muslims use the name "Allah" interchangeably with the name "God."... "
Taken from: http://isaalmasih.net/other/glossary.html
Pray tell, what makes it exclusive to Muslims? If I'm not mistaken, the Christians in the middle east call upon God as Allah too. Right? Not to mention, the native Christian communities that speak Malay only have addressed God as Allah for all this while. Even Indonesia does not have the restriction to who gets to use the word. Allah = God. So does that mean that Muslims are not allowed to use the word "Tuhan" and "God"? after all, it would only be fair that they are not allowed to use "non-muslim" terms to address the deity that they pray to.
This is the problem with Malaysia. We have a ministry run by close-minded fools (yes, this under-grad who keeps failing genetic subjects has just called you bunch of arrogant, ignorant pricks fools) that think that just because the Malay race in Malaysia is the "superior" race, we have to submit to their extremists. Haven't they seen what extremists have become? Look at Osama, the Al Qaeda, and the Taliban. Nothing good came of these extremists. True, it was in the constitution that they are the "special" race. The "bumiputra" have long been pampered with the NEP which obviously hasn't helped much. At the risk of sounding racist, despite the NEP, large numbers of Malays still live in poverty. I'm not saying all Malays are useless. Don't get me wrong! I have plenty of Malay friends that are much more successful in both academics and life than I am. These few are those that make an effort to break from the mould
But I digress, haven't I? I honestly believe that "Allah" should not be limited exclusively to Muslims. It isn't fair to the Christian Malay speaking communities in Malaysia. What's the point of trying to get us to speak our national language more often when you don't even allow us to fully utilise all the word properly? Yes, I know I may be treading on thin ice, but just had to let out my bit to educate others.
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