Catholic
Bishop Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing expressed relief that the PAS deputy
president has countermanded the position taken by a lower ranked
official that Christians should not use the term ‘Allah’ for God.
The views of Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, the party’s information chief, expressed in comments
he made with respect to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s Christmas
Day call to the government to allow Christians to use the ‘Allah’ term
were startling because they contradicted a Pakatan Rakyat consensus
reached three years ago.
“Mohamad Sabu’s assurance that the position adopted three years ago still stands is a huge relief,” said Bishop Tan in remarks made to Malaysiakini following news reports on the clarification made by the PAS No 2 after its seeming repudiation by Tuan Ibrahim.
The head of the Catholic Church in the Malacca-Johor diocese, Bishop Paul Tan said that Christians in peninsular Malaysia felt that a significant step towards resolution of the controversy over use of the term was made when both PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and the party’s spiritual adviser, Nik Aziz Nik Mat, went on record in January 2010 as saying that the term as not exclusive to Muslims.
“My hunch is that the lines of intra-party communications must have been crossed and the information chief got things mixed up,” said the Jesuit-trained prelate.
“The historical evidence is inconvertible that the term was used by Christians in pre-Islamic times,” he said.
Additionally, the bishop cited the existence of Bibles written in European languages and translated into Malay in past centuries that used the term ‘Allah’ when referring to God.
“I even have a Bible in Bahasa that was translated from the Dutch in the early part of the 17th century and it uses the term ‘Allah’ for God,” he added.
Exception unsustainable
Bishop Tan held that if all these proofs of the non-exclusivity of the term to Muslims are not enough, he wondered why Muslim-majority Arab and non-Arab Muslim states imposed no prohibitions on their Christians citizens using the term.
He said the grounds for making peninsular Malaysia an exception to this practice were unsustainable.
He said Christians on the peninsula felt that the Pakatan consensus which pronounced the ‘Allah’ term permissible for use by Christians was a progressive move that “resorted to the lamp of knowledge to dispel myth and superstition.”
“Hence we were startled by the regression implied by recent comments made by lesser ranked officials in PAS that the term should be exclusive to Malay Muslims,” he remarked.
“The PAS deputy president’s reassurance that the stance of three years ago still holds come as a relief.
"We salute his consistency, admire his courage and welcome him as a friend of truth and goodwill,” opined the bishop.
The views of Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, the party’s information chief, expressed in comments
he made with respect to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s Christmas
Day call to the government to allow Christians to use the ‘Allah’ term
were startling because they contradicted a Pakatan Rakyat consensus
reached three years ago.“Mohamad Sabu’s assurance that the position adopted three years ago still stands is a huge relief,” said Bishop Tan in remarks made to Malaysiakini following news reports on the clarification made by the PAS No 2 after its seeming repudiation by Tuan Ibrahim.
The head of the Catholic Church in the Malacca-Johor diocese, Bishop Paul Tan said that Christians in peninsular Malaysia felt that a significant step towards resolution of the controversy over use of the term was made when both PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and the party’s spiritual adviser, Nik Aziz Nik Mat, went on record in January 2010 as saying that the term as not exclusive to Muslims.
“My hunch is that the lines of intra-party communications must have been crossed and the information chief got things mixed up,” said the Jesuit-trained prelate.
“The historical evidence is inconvertible that the term was used by Christians in pre-Islamic times,” he said.
Additionally, the bishop cited the existence of Bibles written in European languages and translated into Malay in past centuries that used the term ‘Allah’ when referring to God.
“I even have a Bible in Bahasa that was translated from the Dutch in the early part of the 17th century and it uses the term ‘Allah’ for God,” he added.
Exception unsustainable
Bishop Tan held that if all these proofs of the non-exclusivity of the term to Muslims are not enough, he wondered why Muslim-majority Arab and non-Arab Muslim states imposed no prohibitions on their Christians citizens using the term.
He said the grounds for making peninsular Malaysia an exception to this practice were unsustainable.
He said Christians on the peninsula felt that the Pakatan consensus which pronounced the ‘Allah’ term permissible for use by Christians was a progressive move that “resorted to the lamp of knowledge to dispel myth and superstition.”
“Hence we were startled by the regression implied by recent comments made by lesser ranked officials in PAS that the term should be exclusive to Malay Muslims,” he remarked.
“The PAS deputy president’s reassurance that the stance of three years ago still holds come as a relief.
"We salute his consistency, admire his courage and welcome him as a friend of truth and goodwill,” opined the bishop.
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