Recent “unity talks” between Malaysia’s two major Malay-Muslim
political parties broke down over the “Allah” issue, an online newspaper
has reported.
“The Malaysian Insider”
reported on Jan. 5 that UMNO (United Malays National Organisation), the
main party in the ruling coalition, and PAS (Pan-Malaysian Islamic
Party), a component party of the opposition People’s Alliance, held
talks on Christmas Eve with the Malaysian King on the need for political
unity among the country’s majority Malays, who are all Muslims,
ucanews.com reports.
However, disagreement over allowing non-Muslims to use the word
“Allah” to refer to God in the Malay language resulted in a breakdown in
the talks.
PAS leaders have in the past defended Malay-speaking Christians using
the term “Allah,” arguing that the Qur’an does not prohibit non-Muslims
from using the word.
UMNO leaders, however, have maintained that allowing non-Muslims to
use the word would confuse Muslims. The country’s Islamic scholars are
divided over the matter.
The controversy became prominent when on Dec. 31, 2009 the Catholic
weekly “Herald” won a court case against a government ban on using the
term “Allah” in its Malay-language section.
The government has since won a stay on the court decision, following
Muslim protests as well as arson and vandalism attacks on Christian
places of worship in several places.
Prime Minister Najib Razak, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin
and former Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi reportedly attended the
Dec. 24 talks in Kuala Lumpur.
On the PAS side was Nik Aziz Nik Mat, chief minister of Kelantan
state, who over the past few days has called for respect for the
confidentiality of the meeting.
He said he went to the meeting out of respect for the former prime minister, who invited him.
UMNO and PAS have in the past held several “unity talks,” which
caused concern among the People’s Alliance’s other component parties.
SIC: CTH/ASIA