KUALA LUMPUR: The Roman Catholic Church is now being asked to drop its claim to use “Allah” and to resort to dialogue to prevent further religious tension and strife.This, after eight churches and a convent school becoming targets of arson, stone and paint attacks over four days.

This, after the government successfully applied for a stay of the Dec 31, 2009 High Court ruling that the Catholic weekly Herald may use the word to describe the Christian God in its Bahasa Malaysia section.

While a Catholic bishops conference in Johor also stressed the need for dialogue in the wake of the unprecedented attacks, it is interesting that the call for dialogue comes from Barisan Nasional (BN) politicians and their party-controlled media.

None of them said anything when the then-BN and Umno home minister Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar unilaterally and arbitrarily banned the Catholic weekly from using the term in 2007, citing national security and to avoid misunderstanding and confusion among the populace.

And there was no call for dialogue then; just a decree with no recourse.

The Catholic church did what it thought was right under the Federal Constitution and asked for a judicial review late that year.

To cut the story short, Syed Hamid had stopped the Herald from using a name it had already used for years, and a name that Christians in Sabah and Sarawak have used for centuries.

And on New Year’s Eve, the High Court ruled the Herald had a right to use the name, for there is nothing in the Federal Constitution that forbids it.

And to cut the latest story shorter, the Umno-controlled Utusan Malaysia today came out with reasons why “Allah” is exclusive to Muslims, citing aspects of Syariah law and the Federal Constitution.

The Malay-language newspaper also implicitly argued the church’s claim to the name has stoked tensions and by dropping it, would calm the tense situation.

In other words, don’t blame anyone else if churches continue to be attacked. Drop the claim, all will be fine. Then, we can talk.

Just blame yourself for “reaping what is sown”, as an Umno blogger eloquently wrote when saying the church had robbed the Malays of the word “Allah”.

That’s hardly the start of a dialogue by any standards. It would be best for BN politicians and Utusan to say explicitly: “You are not worthy to use the name. And we have made that law.”

Perhaps the government should realise it cannot legislate faith. It might have done so under Article 160 of the Federal Constitution to define Malays, but limiting names for God is unknown in the world.

It is disingenuous to blame the Catholics for starting this row, and asking for a dialogue now or to tell the people it’s a trick to convert Muslims to Christianity, to threaten their faith, to challenge the position of Malays and the Malay Rulers.

The Catholics cannot be blamed for all of the above. Nor the Christians. That would be the easy way out, to blame victims for the crime committed by its perpetrators.

The blame should be on the person who made them lose their constitutional rights; no more, no less.

What anyone wants to call their God is their right. No more, no less.

Courtesy: TheMalaysianInsider