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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Christians tortured by Malaysian Muslims



Malaysia's Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah

Fatwa
Malaysian Sultan forbids using ‘Allah’ outside Islam

  • Muslims want freedom of religion and speech only for themselves.


The Sultan of the Malaysian state Selangor has issued a decree that the sacred word ‘Allah’ can be used only by Muslims. The move put more fire into controversy in the state where language peculiarities also make Christians use the term.

­“Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah made a decision and decreed that the word ‘Allah’ is a sacred word specific to Muslims and it is prohibited to be used by any non-Muslim in Selangor,” the Islamic Affairs Council of the Selangor state said Tuesday.

The body added "a stern action" was ordered against those questioning the new fatwa, but did not elaborate reports RT News.

Religion in Malaysia

The sultan, mufti and council convened after the chief minister of another state, Penang, urged the central government to allow the word ‘Allah’ to be used in the Malay translation of the Bible, national daily The Star Online reported.

Christians in Indonesia and Malaysia also use ‘Allah’ to refer to God in their languages. This comes through traditional translations of the Bible made back in the 16th-17th centuries which put the Hebrew’s ‘Elohim’ (‘God’ in English holy books) as ‘Allah’.

But in 2007 the central Malaysian government decided to put an end to the old tradition and limited the usage of the term to the Muslim context only. This was revoked by the High Court two years later; the judges said the law was unconstitutional. The government appealed the ruling and the short-lived implementation of the 2009 court verdict has since been suspended.

Sultan Sharafuddin’s decree could not but create an immediate political standoff. It comes on the eve of a broad meeting called by Pakatan Rakyat, a national affiliation within the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS). For the convention, Pakatan Rakyat allowed the use of ‘Allah’ to all groups, including non-Muslims.


Muslims rally against Christians in Malaysia




Christians tortured in Muslim "Purification Centers"

Gary Lane of CBN News traveled to Kuala Lampur to investigate the government-sanctioned hostility against Christians. In his travels, he observed hidden "purification centers" where many Christians are held. These centers are known to beat and torture Christians.

Many Christians remain in hiding, avoiding the watchful eye of the Malaysian government. If caught, these Christians face severe treatment, beatings, and torture, in an attempt to reconvert them to Islam.





Christians protest
Government blocks 30,000 Bibles in Malay

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The Christian Federation of Malaysia express the disappointment, anger and despair of Christians in a statement: "It would seem that the authorities are conducting an ongoing program, surreptitiously and systematically against Christians in Malaysia, denying them access to the Bible in the Malay language. " The block tied to the controversy on the use of the word "Allah" to refer to God.
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The largest Christian organization in Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim country, said it is "fed up" of the government's refusal to allow the distribution of tens of thousands of Bibles. It argues that it is an affront to religious freedom. It is a rare protest by the Christian Federation of Malaysia. It 's also a sign of growing impatience among the religious minorities, over the dispute, now years old, on the government ban on the use of the word "Allah" as a translation of the word "God" in the Bible and Christian religious texts in the Malay language.
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Federation president, Bishop Ng Moon Hing said that the authorities are holding 30 thousand copies of the Bible in Malay in a port of the island of Borneo. This is the latest attempt by Christians to import Bibles, particularly from Indonesia, after previous attempts failed. There are no problems for texts in English.  (www.asianews.it/news-en)



Just minutes after the forbidding decree, PAS leadership endorsed by other opposition parties proclaimed they stand firm by their decision.

“‘Allah’ in its original Koran meaning stands for ‘The One and Only God' and it should not be misused by others against the Muslim community, to the point of creating confusion,” PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said. “Nevertheless, Islam does not stop followers of other religions from using the word ‘Allah’ in practicing their faith, although it might not be equitable to the actual meaning of the original Koranic word.”

Malaysia's Council of Churches also said it will continue to use the word “Allah” in the Malay version of the Bible.


"Many indigenous communities in our nation have incorporated this word in their everyday language. That being the case, we shall continue this practice, and call on all parties to respect this fundamental right,” the prominent organization said in a statement adding the practice was a right “guaranteed to them in the country's Federal Constitution” under Article 11, which secures freedom of religion.

However, officials across the country reacted positively to the reaffirmed ban on the word, some of them saying that Sultan Sharafuddin has every right to issue such decrees, him being the head of the state's Islamic affairs.

Christian church leaders have expressed concern over the effect of the Selangor Sultan’s royal decree banning followers of faiths other than Islam from using the word “Allah” to describe their gods.

The state Ruler had also instructed the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS) and the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (JAIS) yesterday to take firm action against all groups, including non-Muslims, who continued to question the state fatwa (edict) and a 1988 state law restricting use of the Arabic word.

“Can a fatwa be applied to a non-Muslim?” asked Father Lawrence Andrew, the editor of the country’s sole Catholic newspaper, Herald, when contacted by The Malaysian Insider.

(The Malaysian Insider.com)

Hindus In Malaysia





Muslims Destroy Buddhist Temples
Funny how those Malaysian Muslims keep finding excuses to demolish one 'infidel' house of worship after another. This time, the pretext is a new Malaysian mass transit line, and wouldn't you know it, there's not one, but two pesky temples that are somehow right in the way of this new line. And of course, those troublesome temples -- two Buddhist temples this time -- have gotta go.

Isn't it interesting how, despite the vast number of mosques, suraus, madrassahs, etc. that Malaysia surely has, how not one of these Muslim holy place is ever inconvenienced in any way? It's almost as if Malaysia's government is chock-full of Islamic supremacists or something, dedicated to sweeping away all traces of Jahiliyya (i.e. all non Islamic culture). 


Christians in Malaysia


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