Fourth Malaysian Church Attacked

Across Pacific Magazine \| Humour \| God at Work \| Fourth Malaysian Church Attacked Compiled by Michelle MY Chan Special to ASSIST News Service KUALA LUMPUR, WEST MALAYSIA (ANS) -- A fourth Malaysian church was firebombed this afternoon (Saturday, January 09, 2010, in a spate of attacks on churches that began two days ago here, linked to a court ruling allowing the word Allah to be used by non-Muslims. The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church was the latest church to be attacked, according to web news portal Malaysian Insider. “A firebomb missed a window and caused minor damage,” it quoted Rev Dr Hermen Shastri, the general-secretary of the Council of Churches, Malaysia. While there was no injury caused, the continued assaults on churches are causing citizens of all races and religious persuasions to be concerned about the future and security of this country. The police meanwhile told churches to beef up security on their own, as there is not enough manpower in the force to be deployed to protect all of them. Churches had been calm throughout the incident, and have called for members to pray. The Malaysian Insider reported that a Muslim political opposition party leader had condemned the arson attacks, which was deemed as “uncivilized and against Islam”. The politician had called for a peaceful dialogue, saying that the perpetrators were ignorant of Islam. Volunteers from the Muslim Consumer Association came forward to offer help to monitor the security in churches. The row over the ownership of the word Allah had reached unprecedented proportions in this country where multiple races and religions had co-existed for half a century.. Since the Home Ministry put a ban on non-Muslim literature containing the word Allah, 15,000 imported Indonesian bibles had been confiscated. The ban was based on the grounds of national security; and to avoid confusion amongst Muslim-Malays who make up the majority in this country. The ban directly affects the tribal indigenous groups in East Malaysia (Borneo), who had been reading the Indonesian bibles for decades. Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world. It was not until the Catholic publication, The Herald, used Allah in its newspaper that the row went to court. The church brought charges against the government after the Home Ministry threatened to revoke the annual publishing permit for Herald, the country’s only Catholic paper. The church claimed the ban violated its constitutional rights to practice its religion freely. The High Court ruling in favor of the Catholic Church is suspended pending appeal to the higher Court of Appeal. Michelle MY Chan is a freelance journalist, photographer and documentary filmmaker based in Malaysia.

Fourth Malaysian Church Attacked

Compiled by Michelle MY Chan
Special to ASSIST News Service

KUALA LUMPUR, WEST MALAYSIA (ANS) -- A fourth Malaysian church was firebombed this afternoon (Saturday, January 09, 2010, in a spate of attacks on churches that began two days ago here, linked to a court ruling allowing the word Allah to be used by non-Muslims.

The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church was the latest church to be attacked, according to web news portal Malaysian Insider. “A firebomb missed a window and caused minor damage,” it quoted Rev Dr Hermen Shastri, the general-secretary of the Council of Churches, Malaysia.

While there was no injury caused, the continued assaults on churches are causing citizens of all races and religious persuasions to be concerned about the future and security of this country. The police meanwhile told churches to beef up security on their own, as there is not enough manpower in the force to be deployed to protect all of them.

Churches had been calm throughout the incident, and have called for members to pray.

The Malaysian Insider reported that a Muslim political opposition party leader had condemned the arson attacks, which was deemed as “uncivilized and against Islam”. The politician had called for a peaceful dialogue, saying that the perpetrators were ignorant of Islam. Volunteers from the Muslim Consumer Association came forward to offer help to monitor the security in churches.

The row over the ownership of the word Allah had reached unprecedented proportions in this country where multiple races and religions had co-existed for half a century..

Since the Home Ministry put a ban on non-Muslim literature containing the word Allah, 15,000 imported Indonesian bibles had been confiscated. The ban was based on the grounds of national security; and to avoid confusion amongst Muslim-Malays who make up the majority in this country.

The ban directly affects the tribal indigenous groups in East Malaysia (Borneo), who had been reading the Indonesian bibles for decades. Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world.

It was not until the Catholic publication, The Herald, used Allah in its newspaper that the row went to court. The church brought charges against the government after the Home Ministry threatened to revoke the annual publishing permit for Herald, the country’s only Catholic paper. The church claimed the ban violated its constitutional rights to practice its religion freely.

The High Court ruling in favor of the Catholic Church is suspended pending appeal to the higher Court of Appeal.

Michelle MY Chan is a freelance journalist, photographer and documentary filmmaker based in Malaysia.