Who should I believe?

Yes, I guess it's time for me to speak my mind (part) on the latest happenings in Malaysia that shocked everyone. EVERYONE.

Saturday morning, I took the earliest flight to KL for the pre-departure briefing and hence did not read the newspaper. I think I saw a glimpse of the headlines but did not pay much attention. Fell asleep in the plane.
By Sunday, when it was time for me to come back, things had become worse.
Spent whole Monday afternoon reading through 3 days' load of newspaper.

Conclusion: I felt worried, scared, terrified. This string of happenings is turning Malaysia into the next Indonesia/ Iraq, I fear. Where's that Malaysia which I can boast about a peaceful multi-race nation? I had always been proud to be a Malaysian, especially an East Malaysian, where there's no need to fear about having tea-breaks at a local coffee shop with friends of other races and religions （是啦，就是我吃干盘配teh-tarik，你吃nasi lemak配kopi-O嘛……） or to gather together after we went for church services or they went for Friday prayers at mosque.

很喜欢陈勇光老师在《家在马来西亚～沙巴与砂拉越华人故事》里说的一段话。
内容类似：在诗巫才有家的感觉。
目前找不到人上载Youtube，这里只有相关的预告片：




看了有没有眼湿湿？




Now that burnings (or shall I say bombings?) happens, I began to question myself. Am I being too naive all these while?

Read this, and tell me who should I believe?

【In 2007, the Majlis Agama Negeri Perlis, which is a large majlis filled with people very learned in Islamic religious knowledge, discussed the question of the use of 'Allah' by non-Muslims. Their unanimous decision? They issued a fatwa to say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with non-Muslims using the word at all.】
http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com/2010/01/confident-people-do-not-get-confused.html

          【他续说，作为雪州回教首领，苏丹要求各方严格遵守，禁止其他宗教使用阿拉字眼的立场；及要求回教理事会告诉人民，自1988年开始在宪报上公布的非回教（管制与回教徒发展）条文上，清楚阐明禁止非回教徒使用“阿拉”字眼。
          有鉴于此，他指出，雪州回教法规委员会也于2008年6月10日决定，“阿拉”字眼属于回教徒专用，严厉禁止其他宗教使用。
          他强调雪州回教理事会之后也作出14项决定，其包括了“阿拉”字眼意指上苍，与基督教“三位一体”概念的上帝不同。
       “若允许基督教使用阿拉字眼，那么将会引起不堪设想的后果，未来更可能造成混淆和危害回教徒。”
          针对高庭在去年12月裁决批准天主教会周刊《先驱报》使用“阿拉”字眼，他个人认为已经违反了联邦宪法；而有关“阿拉”字眼的课题更不应带上庭讨论，此事应是马来统治者理事会的权限，属于“不适合司法判断”。】
http://www.eunited.com.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7389:2010-01-13-02-17-14&catid=38:2009-10-23-07-10-36&Itemid=67


This really speaks out our minds.
‘Don’t tell us how to pray,’ Borneo states say
http://themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/49330-dont-tell-us-how-to-pray-borneo-states-say-

【Dayak community leader Dr John Brian Anthony explains how when Christianity was being propagated to the East Malaysian natives roughly 100 years ago, the texts that were used were imported from Indonesia.

These texts used the term Allah and were in Bahasa Indonesia, which was similar to the Melayu Kuno used by the natives.
However, Anthony says, East Malaysian Muslims have never opposed the use of “Allah” by Christians and other non-Muslims.】


【Political scientist Dr Faisal Syam Hazis of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) puts it another way: “The use of Allah by non-Muslims has already been embedded in East Malaysian society for more than 100 years. It has never been an issue. So why are these peninsular Muslims suddenly jumping up and down over it?”】

【  Unimas’ Aeria and Faisal also dispute the views of a Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) race-relations expert who contended that for Sarawak Muslims, religion was not as important as tribal identity。
      In a previous The Malaysian Insider article, Prof Dr Mansor Mohd Noor of UKM Inter-ethnic Studies Institute gave an opinion that peninsular Muslims were less tolerant when it came to questions on Islam than their Sarawak and Sabah brethren.
   “For Muslims in East Malaysia, the use of ‘Allah’ by non-Muslims is not a problem because their identity is tied to a tribe rather than to a religion,” Mansor has said in the article titled “Allah unites some and divides others”.
   “Saying that is almost like saying we Sarawak Muslims are less Islamic than the ones in the peninsula just because we can tolerate Christians using ‘Allah’,” says Faisal.
     East Malaysians of all creeds are passionate about their faith and identity but they were more accepting of each other, says Aeria.】

I had helped out in my church's native service and felt it was perfectly okay to use "Allah". At least I can't find the what's wrong with that.就崇拜时，祷告啊、唱诗啊、证道啊，都很顺畅啊……（我个人要求不多，传教崇拜不就是顺畅的语言最好吗？） Tell me another better word. "Tuhan" "Bapa" are all used in linear with this.
【It's just a noun to decribe God. 】（a quote from recom） 
We know who He is, regardless how we address him.

So, what's the point of this chaos?


小小ps一下：以前我从来不敢说出这些，因为，你知道啦，在马来西亚嘛，宗教向来都是敏感话题……可是，回头想想，自己老是说很爱上帝，却实际表现不出来，有愧于心啊……这回儿，说实话，不关我们这些华语崇拜部的人，但是，为了一个字而差点闹出人命，我觉得，身为马来西亚子民，爱护这个国家的公民，我们有义务保护每个人的安全。衷心希望事情赶快告一段落。