Malaysian Christians have just found out that they cannot use the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God. (News Links: 1 2 )

As Wikipedia mentions, “While the term is best known in the West for its use by Muslims as a reference to God, it is used by Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews in reference to “God”. The Christian Arabs of today have no other word for ‘God’ than ‘Allah’.”

When I first heard the word being used by Christians in Indonesia, I was surprised, unaware of the historical roots and links. Upon some probing and reflection, I realised that since one of the two major influences on the Malay language is Arabic (the other being Sanskrit), the word for God in Malay also happens to be Allah.

But according to the Malaysian minister for Islamic affairs, Abdullah Zin, ‘Allah’ refers to the Muslim God and can only be used by Muslims. “The use of the word ‘Allah’ by non-Muslims may arouse sensitivity and create confusion among Muslims in the country. But Che Din Yusoff, a senior official at the Internal Security Ministry’s publications control unit, goes even a step further and actually claims that this is a deliberate “design to confuse the Muslim people”!

And how has my own Indonesia reacted on this interesting development in a neighbouring country? Well, strong denouncements and calls to reverse the ban, mostly. Long live Indonesia. In my two years here, I have found Indonesia to be by and large a wonderfully tolerant country. Well there are the occasional aberrations, but not alarmingly frequent.