Joseph Chingyong Liow: Malaysia's "Allah" Controversy
[Joseph Chingyong Liow is Associate Dean and Associate Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is author of Piety and Politics: Islamism in Contemporary Malaysia.]
...For many Muslims in the region [of Malaysia], Christian use of the word "Allah" is relatively unproblematic. Jesus, who lived six centuries before Islam was founded, would most likely have used a similar Aramaic word, "Alah," in reference to God. In fact, the Arabic word "Allah" shares the same root as the Aramaic "Alah" as well as the Hebrew "Elohim." It is derived from two words, namely "Al," meaning "the" and "Elah" meaning God. In this sense, it can be argued that "Allah," "Elohim," and "Alah" or "Elah" are closely linked....
In Malaysia, where approximately 60 percent of the population is Muslim and virtually all the Muslims are ethnic Malay, there is a history of conflating religious identity with ethnicity and citizenship. According to the Malaysian constitution, one of the chief criteria for a person to be "Malay" is for him or her to be Muslim. This relationship is so intimate
that when a person converts to Islam, he or she is said to have masuk melayu or "become a Malay."...
As the role of Islam in public life has grown over the past two decades, the other two pillars of Malay identity--language and royalty--have weakened. In the 1970s, the political elite gave the Malay language primacy in the national education system in order to protect the privileged status of Malays. But since then, the use of the language has spread to all ethnicities and is no longer the exclusive property of Malays. At the same time, the stature of Malaysian royalty, who have traditionally been ethnically Malay, has lessened. The political elite have wrested legitimacy from the monarchy, which they see as political competition. Moreover, the royalty have undermined their own status with numerous scandals, including allegations of abuse of power and human rights. In part, these scandals led to a 1983 constitutional amendment that effectively curtailed both the need for royal assent in order for legislation to become law and the sultan's power to declare a state of emergency. As a result of the above factors, there has been a slow shift toward religion as a primary marker of Malay identity--now many Malays see themselves first as Muslims....
Against this backdrop, it was highly predictable that the Malaysian government filed an appeal against the recent High Court ruling and could do little stop the Malay protests about the Herald case. It is also unsurprising that much of the Malay political leadership and royalty have urged Christians to refrain from using the term "Allah," on the grounds that such use would hurt the sensitivities of the Malay Muslim population.
But in the controversy over the use of the term "Allah," there is far more at stake than sensitivities or proprietary rights to terminology. Indeed, the controversy touches on the fundamental organizing principle of Malaysian politics and society--Malay ethno-religious primacy--which has begun to erode over the years. As Prime Minister Razak and his advisors labor over the question of national unity, the "Allah" controversy and the church-burning incidents reveal the obstacles he faces and just how far away the country is from reaching his goal.
Read entire article at Foreign Affairs
...For many Muslims in the region [of Malaysia], Christian use of the word "Allah" is relatively unproblematic. Jesus, who lived six centuries before Islam was founded, would most likely have used a similar Aramaic word, "Alah," in reference to God. In fact, the Arabic word "Allah" shares the same root as the Aramaic "Alah" as well as the Hebrew "Elohim." It is derived from two words, namely "Al," meaning "the" and "Elah" meaning God. In this sense, it can be argued that "Allah," "Elohim," and "Alah" or "Elah" are closely linked....
In Malaysia, where approximately 60 percent of the population is Muslim and virtually all the Muslims are ethnic Malay, there is a history of conflating religious identity with ethnicity and citizenship. According to the Malaysian constitution, one of the chief criteria for a person to be "Malay" is for him or her to be Muslim. This relationship is so intimate
that when a person converts to Islam, he or she is said to have masuk melayu or "become a Malay."...
As the role of Islam in public life has grown over the past two decades, the other two pillars of Malay identity--language and royalty--have weakened. In the 1970s, the political elite gave the Malay language primacy in the national education system in order to protect the privileged status of Malays. But since then, the use of the language has spread to all ethnicities and is no longer the exclusive property of Malays. At the same time, the stature of Malaysian royalty, who have traditionally been ethnically Malay, has lessened. The political elite have wrested legitimacy from the monarchy, which they see as political competition. Moreover, the royalty have undermined their own status with numerous scandals, including allegations of abuse of power and human rights. In part, these scandals led to a 1983 constitutional amendment that effectively curtailed both the need for royal assent in order for legislation to become law and the sultan's power to declare a state of emergency. As a result of the above factors, there has been a slow shift toward religion as a primary marker of Malay identity--now many Malays see themselves first as Muslims....
Against this backdrop, it was highly predictable that the Malaysian government filed an appeal against the recent High Court ruling and could do little stop the Malay protests about the Herald case. It is also unsurprising that much of the Malay political leadership and royalty have urged Christians to refrain from using the term "Allah," on the grounds that such use would hurt the sensitivities of the Malay Muslim population.
But in the controversy over the use of the term "Allah," there is far more at stake than sensitivities or proprietary rights to terminology. Indeed, the controversy touches on the fundamental organizing principle of Malaysian politics and society--Malay ethno-religious primacy--which has begun to erode over the years. As Prime Minister Razak and his advisors labor over the question of national unity, the "Allah" controversy and the church-burning incidents reveal the obstacles he faces and just how far away the country is from reaching his goal.