Yet again, racial and religious tension rears its ugly head. Malaysian Muslims are angered by the use of the word "Allah" by a Christian publication translating the word "God" into Bahasa Malaysia.
Certainly, the term "Allah", even to me (with my Malaysian Christian upbringing), is associated with Islam. The Christian claims to "Allah" struck me as bizzare. I could certainly understand the consternation of the Muslim community when faced with this unfamiliar utilization of such a sacred word.
However, after some reading, I discovered that "Allah" has been widely used in the Middle East, Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia (notably in East Malaysia) denoting the Christian God. Furthermore, for the fidelity of translation (whether in a religious or literary perspective), scholars conclude that the term "Allah" is indeed more accurate than the alternative suggestion of "Tuhan".
It is hard to say how this matter will be settled. It is definitely disheartening to see so much anger, prejudice and ignorance (from both sides of the argument) cloud a reasonable discussion to a satisfying conclusion. I am not even sure if a satisfying conclusion can be met without either side feeling compromised.
If we can all just set aside our differences and instead focus on our commonalities. It reminds me of past days, when without consideration of creed or colour, friends could sit underneath the cherry tree and play.
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