Sunday, January 31, 2010
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The Allah Affair
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The Allah Affair
Lets start with the first significant post, and lets talk about the allah affair. A 31 December court verdict allowed non-muslims to use the term "Allah" to refer to their "God" in the Malay language. Well, I guess the muslims were not very happy about this. The court verdict raised a lot of religious tensions in Malaysia. The muslims started setting fire to Catholic churches, 11 churches were set on fire. Although attacks on churches have abated since the past 2 weeks, severed heads of wild boars were found dumped at 2 mosques! As you know, pigs are considered unclean by the muslims and again the religious tensions will start rising again.
Lets start by analysing the different points of views. The judge who was overseeing this court verdict was probably thinking that it was right to give non-muslims the right to use "Allah" as a term to refer to their "God". However, the judge probably did not think of the destruction that it would cause. Or the judge probably thought that the muslims would not react so extremely. This shows that a simple court verdict can upset the entire religious balance in Malaysia.
Well, I did a little research and found out that, Allah is the standard Arabic word for God. While the term is best known in the west for its use by muslims as a reference to God, it is used by all Arabic speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, includong Christians and Jews, in reference to "God". So, the judge is not entirely wrong to side with the Catholics. However, it would be better if he had come to a compromise between the Catholics and the muslims.
Well, the muslims were very unhappy about this. However, I feel that they should not have acted so rashly by burning down the churches. After the burning of the churches, came the severed pig heads at mosques. It was not mentioned whether the culprit was a catholic or a prankster, trying to stir up trouble. I feel that the Catholics should not have done that, they are just making the situation much worse. Muslims are very sensitive to pigs and all that stuff. (Trust me, I've earned myself a black eye by teasing a muslim friend)
I really think that the people have made the wrong decisions. This is definitely not the correct decisions to make if you are aiming for a win-win situation. Malaysia religious balance is getting upset.
Well, this is what I feel about the Allah affair. I had a long day with tuition, homework and other stuff. I m going to sleep. Zzzzzzzzzzz...
Adrain Fong blogged at 5:40 AM
Saturday, January 30, 2010
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First Post
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Well, i started pretty late. Its only a week before we have to hand up our stuff! Its a Sunday and i guess i took this time to start up my blog and stuff. Hope the wallpapers look nice!
Adrain Fong blogged at 11:24 PM
