Metro Tabernacle in Kuala Lumpur, the first church thatwas attacked on 8 Jan 2010 (Pic courtesy of Sivin Kit) GENERIC term? Noun or pronoun? Conversion conspiracy or copyright? What exactly are Malaysians fighting over with regard to the “Allah” issue? And how is it all being played out in cyberspace? A check on Facebook, Twitter, [...]

THE attacks on Malaysian churches were a shocking way to start 2010. The unprecedented violence made headlines internationally as the foreign media pulled apart Malaysia’s carefully constructed image as a moderate Muslim nation. Following the attacks, there have been calls for Christians to drop their claim to refer to God as “Allah” for the sake [...]

PETALING JAYA, 13 Jan 2010: Even though the government banned the use of “Allah” by non-Muslims in 1986, the churches refrained from court action for more than 20 years because of assurances from two prime ministers. ShastriCouncil of Churches of Malaysia general secretary Rev Dr Hermen Shastri told The Nut Graph that Christian leaders were [...]

(Corrected at 7:25pm, 15 Jan 2010) How will Najib put out the fires? (Fire pic by straymuse / sxc.hu) COMMENTATOR Manjit Bhathia is right to say that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak “is starting to look every bit as useless as his predecessor, (Tun) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.” After the divisive rule of Tun Dr [...]

(Corrected at 4:38pm, 12 Jan 2010) KUALA LUMPUR, 12 Jan 2010: Malaysians are mature enough to openly discuss issues without resorting to violence, said the organiser of an 11 Jan 2010 public forum on the “Allah” issue. Despite being told by police to cancel last night’s forum following the spate of attacks on churches, the [...]

LEST we forget, the source of the Allah controversy that resulted in churches, and a Catholic school, being torched and threatened did not begin on the streets. It did not begin with narrow-minded and ignorant Muslim pressure groups threatening to spill blood to assert their sole right to use “Allah”. Lest we forget, it began [...]